Arun Jaitley launches 'Make in India' conference in Sydney

Melbourne, Mar 30: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today launched 'Make in India' conference in Sydney and asked Australian businesses to be the part of India's growth story.

India becomes the key focus of the world today and 'Make in India' is one of the key focuses of the government, Jaitley, who is in Sydney for two days, said.

"India could manage to become a very low cost service provider but failed to transform into a low cost manufacturing," Jaitley said, adding that now there was an opportunity to do so. "Indian government does feel that manufacturing sector does need to grow," he said.

The Minister pinpointed that with People in agri sector moving out, there was a need to achieve the target of manufacturing sector to occupy the 25 per cent of India's GDP. Jaitley said that now is the time when 'Make in India' campaign can translate into actual activities.

He said despite global economic downturn, India had shown a great resilience.

"For two consecutive years, we are the fastest growing economy in the world. When we measure ourselves by our own standards, we believe that 7.5 per cent does not reflect our true potential," Jaitley said.

India has to invest in its infrastructure in a bid to prepare a base for an economy of this huge size, he said.

"Manufacturing must occupy a space," he said, adding that global investors must look at India. The conference was launched in the presence of Australia's Special Envoy for trade Andrew Robb, Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri, CII Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee, CII President Sumit Mazumder and NEW Parliament Secretary for Major Events and Tourism Jonathan O'Dea.

Earlier today, Jaitley called on Australian Foreign Minister Julie bishop. Bishop described the meeting as "productive" and positive that comprised several bilateral issues between the two sides.

PTI