Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government has carried out major reforms -- including labour reforms and reforms in insurance and defence sectors -- 'in less than 100 days' and stopped reversals Indian economy had been facing.
He said his government was disappointed that Pakistan made a spectacle of India’s efforts to improve bilateral ties when it went ahead with its talks with Kashmiri separatists.
The PM, in an interaction with Japanese media persons on the eve of his visit to Japan, touched upon several issues -- economic reforms, foreign direct investment, and India’s relations with the US, China and Pakistan.
Modi leaves for a five-day visit to Japan on Saturday, his first bilateral visit outside the subcontinent.
On India-Pakistan ties, Modi said India had no hesitation to discuss any outstanding issues with Pakistan within the framework of the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration.
“We, therefore, were disappointed that Pakistan sought to make a spectacle of these efforts and went ahead with talks with secessionist elements from Jammu & Kashmir in New Delhi, days before the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries,” he said.
Modi said India would continue to make efforts to build peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties with Pakistan.
“But I might add that any meaningful bilateral dialogue necessarily requires an environment that is free from terrorism and violence,” he added. He also said that New Delhi “currently” was “not taking any initiative” to review its nuclear doctrine.
On FDI, the Indian PM said: “FDI regime in India is free with minimal conditionalities”.
Modi said he felt “with the right signal of policy stability and genuineness of intent by the government, FDI influx will happen on its own as India is an excellent investment destination”.
Modi said his government is 'open to dialogue and will strive to remove all roadblocks to invite FDI' and that there aren’t many sectors now, where there are restrictions for FDI.
“Review of the FDI policy is a continuous exercise. We recently opened up the railway sector to 100 per cent FDI and 49 per cent in defence.
"We have also deregulated a number of items in defence list, which do not require licensing now,” he said, according to a transcript of the interaction.
Modi said his government’s first Budget had new initiatives.
“Under less than 100 days, we have initiated several reforms.
"Whether
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