PM Modi meets top CEOs ahead of Budget, wants corporates to invest in agri, food-processing

New Delhi, Dec 20 (Bureau) In the run-up to Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met a group of top CEOs from across the industry and sought their inputs to reduce compliance burden. Top banker Uday Kotak, JSW Steel’s Seshagiri Rao, Tata Steel MD & CEO TV Narendran and Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki were among the top CEOs who interacted with PM Modi. During the interaction, the prime minister said that corporate sector should invest more in areas like agriculture and food processing, and talked about the shifting focus on natural farming.

As per a statement from Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Modi said that that just like the country aspires for a podium finish at the Olympics, the country also wants to see industries among the top five of the world in every sector. “He underlined the policy consistency of the government, and said that the government is firmly committed to take initiatives which will give impetus to economic progress of the country,” the statement said. The prime minister thanked the industry leaders for their inputs and suggestions, and exhorted them to make full use of policies like PLI (production-linked incentives) incentive. This is second such interaction by PM with industry representatives in the run up to next Budget. he had earlier met the top executives from venture capital and private equity funds. In the meeting today, Tata Steel’s TV Narendran said that the government’s timely response had led to V shaped recovery after Covid. Sanjeev Puri, Chairman and Managing Director of ITC, gave suggestions to further boost the food processing industry. Uday Kotak said that PM has brought path breaking changes through simple yet beautifully articulated reforms like Swachh Bharat, Start up India etc. Kenichi Ayukawa expressed commitment about realizing the PM’s vision of making India a manufacturing giant.