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Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said India is a land of immense opportunity and is emerging as the hub for visual effects and animation.

Addressing the Fortune India The Next 500 Awards function, Thakur said that at a time when the global economy was under the cloud of recession, India continued to leap-frog, creating opportunities for investments across several sectors.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister said several global movies such as ‘Avatar’ had got their visual effects and animation done at studios in India, which was emerging as a hub for such activities.

“Many big films have got their visual effects and animation done in small cities in India. There are immense opportunities across various sectors,” he said.

He said the Modi government was ridiculed by the opposition when it embarked on financial inclusion and digitisation of the economy.

“In 2008, we were the world’s most unbanked nation. In the last nine years, we have opened 480 million bank accounts. We were ridiculed by the opposition who said what will come in the bank accounts of the poor. But the poor deposited money in their bank accounts .. more than Rs 2.47 lakh crore was deposited, and money came into circulation. This happened when Modi brought in financial inclusion,” Thakur said.

He said the Modi government had worked hard to improve India’s position in the Ease of Doing rankings and the Innovation Index.

“I am not saying that we have done the best. We are still in the process of doing so. If anyone has any suggestions on how to further cut down the compliance burden are welcome to do so,” Thakur said.

He said “some experts” had written off the India story when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, but Prime Minister Modi steered the country through difficult times and ensured that the economy emerged as a bright spot in the world.

Thakur urged the young entrepreneurs to work hard to achieve success and take the country forward.

“If you want to shine like the sun, you have to wake up before the sun rises. You also need to burn like the sun. I am sure the young India, the new India knows how to work hard and make a mark at the global level,” Thakur said.