Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry is honoured and privileged to have esteemed guests and leaders from business and government from 11 nations – Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and United States, apart from India. These initiatives collectively aim to promote inclusive, sustainable, and resilient economic development across the Indo-Pacific region, fostering cooperation, mutual benefit, and peace and security.

Indo-Pacific is an important framework and we are already beginning to build the financial, physical, economic, and commercial architecture by concrete step by step measures. Indo-Pacific Framework is a maritime concept. The maritime aspect of this is absolutely critical because without taking this into account much of the conversation is meaningless but once we go into a maritime framework then the way we look at the world changes. So once we begin to think in maritime terms we begin to have a far more flexible world view than when we have a landlocked view of the world. So, he is emphasizing in this maritime aspect over and over again because in the end Indo-Pacific is a maritime concept.

He added that there is also a financial aspect to the framework. Instead of having rigid financing systems we need to have globally fluid network of financing. Indo Pacific region also has some serious finance hubs. Example Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai. Interlinking all of these is the key. India intends to internationalize the Indian Rupee over the next decade or so for it to be much more widely used. India aspires to be like other hard currencies like Yen, Pound, Singapore Dollar, and Euro etc. The nation expects that the Indian bonds will be more widely used. India is becoming a more prominent part in the international financial network.

She stated that the indo pacific is volubly one of the most strategically important region in the world now. The importance can be underscored by the fact that the region is at the center of global trade and commerce accounting for 65% of the world’s population, 63% of the world’s GDP, 46% of world’s merchandise trade and 50% of world’s maritime trade. India was amongst the first to articulate its vision for the Indo-Pacific. She also quoted India’s vision as laid out by Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi which calls for a free open and inclusive order in the Indo-pacific based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all Nations, peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue and adherence to international rules and laws. India’s concept of Indo-Pacific is inclusive in nature and supports an approach that respects the freedom of navigation and over flight clearances for all international seas. Further she described India’s relationship with Cambodia and stated that the relationship has achieved a multifaceted character with regular interaction at the political and official levels, exchange of bilateral visits, capacity building and cultural exchange, change of development partnership, assistance towards de-mining efforts and restoration of cultural monuments. 

Further she elaborated the extent of this relationship by stating that an institutional arrangement is already in place for exploring the integration of Unified Payments Interface with Cambodia. India also wishes to establish a physical connectivity through infrastructure development with further extension of Eastward expansion of the India Myanmar trilateral highway and by negotiating with the investment treaty. 

She stated that, this conclave is an important platform as it will serve as a unified platform for the business community from the Indo-Pacific region to deliberate upon their agendas. This Conclave will prove to be catalyst to enhance business engagements and will further connect the business community in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo-Pacific region accounts to 63% of GDP and half of all global trade passes through the waters this region. The growing importance of this region on the global geopolitical map and the problem of economic concentration prompted us to intensify our business engagements in the region as India strives for an open free rule-based Indo-Pacific region. India stands for freedom of navigation and respect for international laws in the Indo-Pacific region. De-risking the global economy now involve reliable and resilient supply chain as well as promoting trust and transparency in the digital domain. India pacific region documents call for close cooperation within Indo-pacific countries for improving connectivity in all its dimensions: - transport, digital and human. 

Addressing the Conclave Shri T Rabi Sankar, said, Digital Payment Infrastructure (DPI) to be one of the most important drivers of the Indian Economy. He also mentioned that impact of digital payment systems on cross border payments and its impact will be felt in years to come in cross border payment. As per the World Bank Research, Global cross border remittances in 2022 was estimated to be US$ 830 billion. India was the top recipient of US$ 111 billion. According to World Bank remittance prices Worldwide database, the global average cost of retail size of global remittance was 6.2 % in Q4 2022. For some countries this cost can be as high as 8%. Such a high cost in today’s context when data-connectivity is so cheap is simply unconscionable. I believe that given the available technology, the present situation is not sustainable. In February this year India and Singapore enabled UPI Pay Now linkage to enable the citizens of both countries to make instant and cost-effective cross-border transfers. This inter linkage also aligns with the G20s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments and will be a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore. 

Shri Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India quoted “India leads towards a 3rd largest economy - is a journey not a goal. That is a means to an end and the end is well-being of our people and a well-developed India.” He presented some data in this regard. Just about ten years back in 2013 India was at the 10th position and the size of the economy were 1.4 trillion. In these 9-10 years India is at the 5th position and the size of the economy is 3.7 trillion.  In 1991, India was at the 16th position; the size of the economy was only 300 billion. The implications are huge. The country today has lot more wealth and resources for basic amenities, infrastructure and to facilitate business activities including industries. In the last 7-8 years India added four crore affordable houses. Today there are more than 19 crore houses who has proper water connections. Today the country can aspire and deliver on a saturation approach to basic amenities. There are almost 12 crore households under Swatch Bharat Mission where individual washrooms are there in each house. The country is moving from live to livelihood. Today 50 crore people under various schemes such as PM Suraksha Viman, PM Jibon Jyoti Yojna has insurance cover of the one form or the other. India has been able to achieve a very strong growth rate and a potential to grow faster in the coming years. India contributes to almost 15% of global growth in each year and creates opportunities for global investors and global companies. It also generates a virtual cycle of higher growth leading to higher savings, higher investment, more employment and again coming back to more growth. India’s GST system has led to huge productivity gains and the goods can move with much better efficiency and check post facilities. He listed four sectors which requires attention – energy, skilling and re-skilling, urban infrastructure, and private sectors. A creative re-development of our cities and an orderly transformation to urbanization. He mentioned in this aspect the role of state government is very import for creating reforms in health, education and fiscal consolidation both as expenditure orientation and stepping up the tax efforts. The role of the chambers of commerce as stakeholders are important for India’s development. 

Shri Suneet Mehta, Dy. Chief of Mission, HCI, Canberra, Australia in his address expressed that India and Australia are really coming closer as the India-Australian partnership from June 2020 has created an unprecedented momentum and the business environment is growing more collusive with each passing day. It is already anchored in both the nations desire to increase engagement in the Indo-Pacific, to realize a shared vision for an open free trade prosperous rules-based region that respects sovereignty in terms of mutual commitment.  India and Australia are working together to create more diverse and resilient supply chains. Going by the lines of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Mr. Mehta also emphasized the development on the 3 T’s i.e., trade, technology, and tourism. In order increase the bilateral trade strategies three strategies are being followed: tariff reductions, expanding market access and diversifying the trade basket. 

Shri Mayank Joshi, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Tokyo, Japan expressed that to become an “Atma Nirvar Bharat” by 2047 the vision should be development on economic infrastructure, demography, democracy, supply chains and energy. Japan has been an important partner for economic development of India. He mainly focused on India- Japan partnership for creating better technological and infrastructure development in India. The two countries are focused to reform multilateralism and are working together closely in important constructs like the United Nations, the QUAD, the CDRI and also the Indo-Pacific framework. As per the information with regard to the Indian government’s production linked incentive scheme, application of 26 Japanese companies with a commitment investment worth of 1.8 billion dollars has been approved. 

Speaking about India’s growth story post COVID at the Indo-Pacific Economic Conclave 2023, Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India said that the response and recovery phase is over and now it is all about consolidation. India is poised for good and steady growth for the rest of this decade.  Our goal should not be only to become the third-largest economy in aggregate size but also in per capita terms, becoming a middle-income or upper middle-income country, for that we need to make sure that the aspiring middle class is not only able to get the kind of goods and services that they need but they are also in a position to contribute and this is not just a task for the public sector but also the private sector. To prepare the Indian demographic dividend we need right skilling, right education and right attitudes. If MSMEs get paid on time, India will have a vibrant economy and that will eventually be a win for large corporations. 

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Hon'ble Minister of State, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India said, that as per him, we certainly seem to be living in very interesting and exciting times from a global perspective. He stated “almost everyday history is being made, milestones are being crossed. For the first time ever in the history of independent India we have a new parliament, which is a great moment and occasion to celebrate. Two days after the new parliament was released, a law enacted by which historical women’s reservation bill was passed, which will absolutely transform the landscape of opportunities for women and young girls. Two days post that event, iphone 15 was globally launched and at the same day Indian people could also walk in to buy the same phones. The Indian consumers got the “Made in India Iphone 15”, manufactured in India. A $3 billion unit, first ever semiconductor plant, the ground breaking ceremony for that was held in Sanand, Gujrat. India is the fastest growing economy in the world. A country in 2014 who was importing 82% of its mobile phones, had no electronics manufacturing of any kind, is now manufacturing 100% of what it consumes and exported 1 lakh crore Apple and Samsung phones last year. “India is seeing almost 30 startups in semi-conductor device design. We were in the fragile five and here we are now at the top five economies of the world and our Prime Minister has guaranteed that we will move from the top 5 to the top 3 in the next three years. We will cross Japan and Germany and we will be in the league with the US and China amongst the top three economies in the world. Year after year the GST number shows that how the economic growth is not just a statistic, it is creating more and more resources for the Government to invest in infrastructure, in poverty of India to make them move out of poverty, giving them more opportunities. In India there were always lack of modern infrastructure, and here we are today, one of the largest spending nations in world in building modern infrastructure, from rail to roads, to ports to logistics, networks. We are spending 13 lakh crores in this financial year in creating modern infrastructure. The deep transformation changes that has happened for the past 9 years has provided an enabling framework for today’s and future growth.”