Running down entreprenuers won't work anymore, the PM told the Lok Sabha yesterday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's glowing tributes in Parliament to Indian private enterprise has earned both gratitude and praise from at least a section of entrepreneurs who welcomed the encouraging comments. One industrialist also noted that his cheering views on industry, expressed on the floor of the Lok Sabha yesterday, come at a "fragile time".
Addressing the lower house, PM Modi yesterday delved into the role played by India's private sector in improving people's lives and serving humanity. He said the times have changed from when only the government could do things and entrepreneurs were looked at with suspicion.
"If the country needs the public sector, the role of the private sector is also as important...If India is of any use to humanity today, our private sector has had a big role in it," PM Modi told the Lok Sabha.
"We must have faith in our youth. If we keep berating them and running them down, and discourage any private activity, this culture won't help anymore now," he said, emphasising that "wealth creators are also important for the nation".
He pointed out how encouragement to mobile phone manufacturing had resulted in smartphones making their way into the hands of the poor. Competition in telecom, he said, had led to data charges falling to the lowest rates in the world.
These words, later partly posted on Twitter, heartened a number of people, prominent industrialists among them.
"Welcome words of encouragement at a fragile time for private enterprise due to the pandemic. Now we have to live up to the expectations...both in performance & governance," said Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group.
JSW chief Sajjan Jindal said this was the first time an Indian Prime Minister had "publicly shared his respect for the Indian entrepreneurs".