Right Time to Invest in India: Nitin Gadkari

Davos: Showcasing India growth story before global business leaders for WEF annual meeting, senior Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said it is the appropriate time to invest in the country.

Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Shipping, said India is working on record road construction projects and there are no problems relating to land acquisition and environmental clearances.

The port sector is also growing fast and six new ports are being developed while the country is focusing big on cruise tourism.

Inland riverway is another key focus and work has started with the Ganga, he said.

"We have some new plans, including for logistics parks on highways," Gadkari said, adding that agriculture has become a key priority.

"We are very friendly for investments and it is an appropriate time to invest in India," he said while adding that the country is also working on ways to improve the purchasing power of common men as that will present further opportunities.

He was speaking at a breakfast session organised by CII and BCG on the sidelines of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017.

Gadkari asserted that the demonetisation move will help strengthen the economy and encourage more investments.

"There were some problems initially, but things have improved significantly now and within a month, everything would be completely normal," he said.

Digital payments have helped a lot, including on toll collections that have gone up, he added.

At the same session, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India has great opportunities in the services sector which contribute more than 50 percent to our GDP and there is a great potential this year.

According to Sitharaman, the services sector will remain the focus area for India in all its trade negotiations at regional, bilateral and global levels.

She said India is setting standards that would help check inferior goods coming from any country, let alone China.

She also criticised non-tariff barriers being put up by some countries and is of the view that questions need to be asked at global summits like WEF.