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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured India Inc that the government would focus on reducing the compliance burden while exhorting the top companies to make full use of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

During the pre-Budget deliberations with corporate leaders, he said the government is fully committed to taking initiatives with a view to give impetus to the economic progress of the country.

This was the second such interaction of the prime minister with industry representatives in the run-up to the next Union Budget, according to an official statement released after the meeting.

Last week, he had met with leading private equity/ venture capital players to seek suggestions on making India a more attractive investment destination.

Stressing on the inherent strength of the country, displayed during the battle against COVID-19, he said, “Just like the country aspires for a podium finish at the Olympics, the country also wants to see our industries among the top five of the world in every sector, and this is something for which we should collectively work towards.”

He thanked the industry leaders for their inputs and suggestions, and exhorted them to make full use of policies like PLI incentives.

The government has come out with the PLI scheme to spur manufacturing in various sectors and also promote exports.

The prime minister said the corporate sector should invest more in areas like agriculture and food processing, and talk about the shifting focus on natural farming.

He also spoke about the focus of the government towards reducing the compliance burden, and sought suggestions on areas where undue compliances need to be removed.

The industry representatives gave their feedback to the prime minister and also expressed their commitment towards contributing to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision of the prime minister.

They said that due to his leadership, the economy of the country is moving ahead on the path of recovery after COVID-19, through his timely interventions and transformative reforms.

Heads of corporates also spoke about steps that can be taken to further boost the ease of doing business in the country.

They also talked about India’s commitments at COP26 and how the industry could contribute towards achieving the goals outlined, it said.

T V Narendran of Tata Steel said the government’s timely response has led to a V-shaped recovery after COVID-19 while Sanjeev Puri of ITC gave suggestions to further boost the food processing industry.

This is one of the many interactions being done by the prime minister ahead of the budget to receive inputs and suggestions from the private sector.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is due to present on February 1 the Budget for the next fiscal year that starts on April 1, 2022.

Since coming to power in 2014, the BJP government has unveiled a series of reforms that have helped India climb on the global ease of doing business ranking.

It is now pushing for making India a manufacturing hub. Production-linked incentive schemes for sectors from automobiles to semiconductors and solar have been announced to attract global manufacturers to set up a base in the country.

TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said, “What’s most important is his (prime minister) focus on research innovation, his belief in the capacity that India has to step way beyond where we are.”

Gopinathan further said the prime minister has laid out a clear vision statement saying that in every sector in every industry, India should be among the top five globally.

Manu Kapoor of Samsung India said the prime minister has come out with a lot of decisions on PLIs to support manufacturing and exports.

Time has come for Indian business and Indian industry, India’s banking and financial sector to think about scale without fear, Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak said.

“I am enthused about the potential of India, and Indian banking and finance are out there ready to support industry across, sustainability inclusion digital and infrastructure,” Kotak said.

Mallika Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of Tractors and Farm Equipments Ltd, said, the whole interaction today was about how to take India forward.

Observing that the prime minister has a grand vision and ambitions for India, Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said the industry is fully committed to contributing to his grand vision by making India a manufacturing hub.

After the interaction, Sumant Sinha, chairman and MD of ReNew Power, said the meeting was interesting, positive and encouraging.

“He heard us for almost two hours, about all issues and problems and also the opportunities that corporates like us talked about in our respective sector,” Sinha said.

OYO Chief Executive Officer Ritesh Agarwal said that under the leadership of Modi, the number of unicorns has surged from just 11 in 2016 to 79 at present.