This Article is From Apr 13, 2015

In Hannover, PM Modi Talks About 80-Point Checklist to German CEOs

In Hannover, PM Modi Talks About 80-Point Checklist to German CEOs
Hannover:

On a two-day visit to Germany to seek investment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met top German business leaders in Hannover and listed some 80 to 90 factors which he said need to be improved upon by India. 

At a roundtable meeting with 14 CEOs - the first engagement PM Modi had in Germany - he invited all of them to speak about what they had to say about doing business in India, official sources told NDTV. Before the CEOs spoke, the prime minister told them that he kept a list of 80-90 things himself about things that need to be improved on, sources added.

"The Prime Minister said that he does a status check on this list every 15 days or so," said foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, adding "And he follows it up with the states to see what improvements have been made."

This is perhaps the first admission by the Prime Minister of such a checklist which he told the CEOs was kept because "he understood that as India eases norms, it would be easier to draw investment."

The CEOs agreed wholeheartedly about such a long list of problem areas. At a time when the government was struggling with the land ordinance, many of the German companies brought up land acquisition as a problem. While BMW officials told the Prime Minister that India's tax structure was problematic, other companies also talked about the problem of too tight a timeframe in order to deliver.

"The prime minister told them that he had to work with the states," said Mr Akbaruddin.

This is the first time that 14 states are participating at an international fair like Hannover, competing with each other to get investment. The interaction was moderated by Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank.

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