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The India-UAE Business Summit was held on 10th January 2024 to strengthen bilateral ties between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024.

UAE’s President His Highness (H.H.) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the chief guest at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, further emphasising the growing cooperation and strengthening relations between the two nations. The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, extended a warm welcome to H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and remarked that India cherishes his thoughts and efforts to boost India-UAE ties.

The Inaugural Session of the India-UAE Business Summit included keynote addresses from Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles (India) and His Excellency (H.E.) Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economy (UAE) along with special remarks from Shri Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Shri Piyush Goyal, H.E. Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, and Shri Bhupendra Rajnikant Patel ceremonially launched the UAE – India CEPA Council (UICC) website as part of the inaugural session. The session also highlighted India’s booming startup landscape and included remarks from Shri Kunal Bahl, Chairman - Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Startup Council and Co-founder - Snapdeal and Titan Capital.

A report on the CII India-UAE Start-Up Initiative titled “Unlocking Opportunities: India- UAE Start-Up Ecosystem Convergence” was also launched during the summit. The inaugural session was chaired by Shri R Dinesh, President, CII and Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Limited and included addresses from H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chief Executive Officer - DP World, and M.A. Yusuff Ali, Chairman Lulu Group International, who mentioned their interest in increasing investment in the food processing industry in India.

The India-UAE Business Summit also facilitated a focused discussion session for further cooperation in areas such as trade finance, investment facilitation, and sectoral collaboration. The Indian and the UAE delegations comprised of representatives from both the Government and the industry. The session included a presentation on the Bharat Mart which is a proposed warehousing facility by India in the UAE to support Indian exporters.

India-UAE trade rose to USD 85 billion in 2022, making the UAE India’s third-largest trading partner for the year 2022-23 and India's second-largest export destination. In February 2022, India became the first country with which the UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Bilateral trade has increased by approximately 15% since the entry into force of the CEPA on 1 May 2022.

The CEPA was a landmark agreement designed to spark a new era of cooperation between two nations and strengthening the long-standing cultural, political and economic ties. It has helped reduce tariffs on more than 80% of product lines, eliminate barriers to trade and create new pathways for investment and joint ventures. In the first 12 months of the CEPA, bilateral non-oil trade reached US$50.5 billion, representing a growth of 5.8% compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. The two countries are fast moving towards the target of US$100 billion non-oil trade by 2030.

 A Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a framework to promote the use of local currencies (INR-AED) for cross-border transactions was signed by Governors of the respective Central Banks of India and the UAE in July 2023. Developing the Local Currency Settlement System between the two countries to settle bilateral trade reflects mutual confidence and underlines the robustness of the economies in both countries.

The UAE-India Business Summit is another step towards accelerating India-UAE bilateral economic relations for mutual growth and prosperity.

With an aim to bring together the country’s startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is organising the Startup India Innovation Week 2024 from 10th January 2024 to 18th January 2024 to celebrate the Indian Startup Ecosystem and the National Startup Day (16th January 2024).

During the Innovation Week 2024, Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh will deliver the inaugural address in the Startup Seminar: ‘Startups Unlocking Infinite Potential’ on 11th January 2024, at the Tenth Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat which aims to provide a global forum for business networking, knowledge sharing, and inclusive socio-economic development.

On 16th January 2024, as part of the National Startup Day celebrations, DPIIT is organising the result declaration and felicitation ceremony for the National Startup Awards 2023 and the 4th edition of the States’ Startup Ranking Framework, two of the flagship initiatives under Startup India. Physical events are also being organised across the country by incubators to celebrate the innovations being developed across districts by Indian entrepreneurs. These events include dedicated workshops for startups, mentorship sessions, stakeholder round tables, panel discussions, among others.

Eight virtual Ask Me Anything (AMA) live sessions are planned to be conducted from 10th to 17th January 2024 with startup ecosystem enablers including incubators and accelerators, investors, mentors, unicorns, corporates, startups, academia, and government to build capacity of the ecosystem.

Further, 5 dedicated mentorship sessions focused on ‘How to Start Up’ are planned to be conducted focused on capacity building of aspiring entrepreneurs and student entrepreneurs on topics such as understanding business structures, processes to incorporate an entity, and building a business plan.

The Startup India initiative was launched by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 16th January 2016 to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation, boosting startups, and encouraging investments in the startup ecosystem of the country. Emphasising and promoting recognition of startups contributing towards nation building, socio economic development, and self-reliance, the Prime Minister in 2022, declared 16th January the National Startup Day. 16th January 2024 marks the completion of 8 marvellous years of the launch of Startup India. From about 400 startups in 2016 to more than 1,17,000 recognised startups today, the Indian startup ecosystem has grown from strength to strength over the years. The Startup India initiative is also playing an important role in realising the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047, the Prime Minister’s clarion call to make India a developed nation by 2047, the 100th year of independence.

The National Startup Awards is an initiative to recognize and reward outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are building innovative products or solutions and scalable enterprises, with high potential of employment generation or wealth creation, demonstrating measurable social impact.

The States' Startup Ranking is a periodic capacity building exercise developed and released by DPIIT that evaluates States and UTs on their efforts to build an ecosystem conducive to growth of startups. The major objectives of the ranking exercise are - facilitating States and UTs to identify, learn and replace good practices, highlighting the policy intervention by States and UTs for promoting startup ecosystem and fostering competitiveness among states.

DPIIT is also collaborating with the Department of Youth Affairs to promote the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) initiative launched by the Prime Minister on 31st October 2023. MY Bharat is a pivotal, technology-driven facilitator for youth development and youth-led development across the entire spectrum of the Government. During the Innovation Week, various outreach activities specifically for My Bharat will be undertaken to promote entrepreneurship to the youth of the nation.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal hailed PM GatiShakti as India's revolutionary offering to the world, tracing its inception back to the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi's visionary thinking about 18 years ago during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. While delivering the keynote address at a seminar on "PM GatiShakti: Informed Decision-Making for Holistic Development" organized at the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, today, the Minister projected PM GatiShakti as the future planning tool for infrastructure not just in India or Asia, but globally.

Highlighting the historical context of infrastructure development in India, Shri Goyal underscored the traditional challenges of prolonged delays and cost overruns in projects. He emphasized the Prime Minister's unwavering pursuit of excellence and performance, rejecting mediocrity in infrastructure delivery. Reflecting on the genesis of PM GatiShakti, the Minister recalled the Prime Minister’s focused efforts to rebuild Gujarat after a devastating earthquake. Recognizing the pivotal role of infrastructure in repositioning Gujarat as an investment destination, the Prime Minister envisioned a robust infrastructure framework.

Shri Goyal emphasized the significant outcomes of PM GatiShakti while releasing the ‘PM GatiShakti Gujarat Compendium’. He lauded the dynamism, flexibility, and technological prowess embedded within PM GatiShakti. Underlining the significance of geospatial mapping and technology-based solutions, Shri Piyush Goyal underscored the dynamic nature of the project, continually evolving and adapting to incorporate new data layers. He highlighted the interconnectivity of data layers, enabling better planning, analysis, monitoring, and implementation of infrastructure projects through PM GatiShakti.

Speaking about the impact of delayed projects on consumers, the Minister emphasized that delayed infrastructure projects lead to cost overruns, affecting citizens' finances. He noted the significant contribution of PM GatiShakti for faster, more efficient, and cost-effective infrastructure development to deliver maximum benefits to citizens. Citing the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project, Shri Goyal highlighted the immense benefit that the PM GatiShakti has brought for the efficient planning of large scale infrastructure development projects. Shri Goyal noted that PM GatiShakti epitomizes the strength of India and heralds a new era of world-class infrastructure development, providing growth opportunities while transcending political boundaries.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal commended the exemplary efforts behind the successful organization of the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit and extended congratulations to the PM GatiShakti team led by Special Secretary (Logistics), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ms. Sumita Dawra.

The seminar saw participation from international organizations, Industry experts, State Departments, and PM GatiShakti Network Planning Group, etc. fostering constructive dialogue and an exchange of ideas that will help in making the most of this transformative initiative.

The day-long seminar comprised (i) a Technical session, (ii) a Plenary session, and (iii) a Panel Discussion. In the Plenary session, Special Secretary (Logistics), DPIIT addressed "The PM GatiShakti Initiative: Transforming India's Infrastructure Landscape," highlighting how the initiative, launched on October 13, 2021, aims to build Next Generation Infrastructure for improving Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business. Collaboration of Financial Institutions with PM GatiShakti, National Logistics Policy, EXIM Logistics, and PM GatiShakti as a tool for Global planning of infrastructure were key points discussed during the session.

The 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, with the theme “Gateway to Future” a strategic global platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and strategic partnerships, is ongoing in Gujarat from 10-12 Jan 2024. The Summit inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, had over 1000 participants from partner countries and organisations, several pioneering leaders from industry, international financial institutions and media. In his address the Hon’ble Prime Minister highlighted that strengthening of India’s infrastructure and logistics ecosystem, along with plans to develop the regional India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEEC), are opening up several investment opportunities for industry and global partners.    

During the seminar on "PM GatiShakti: Informed Decision-Making for Holistic Development", focused discussions on how PM GatiShakti is revolutionising integrated infrastructure development at National and State level, took place. A compendium on best practices adopted by the State of Gujarat under its PM GatiShakti Gujarat initiative, was launched by Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Sh. Piyush Goyal and Hon’ble Chief Minister Sh. Bhupendra Bhai Patel.

Sh. Piyush Goyal in his address mentioned how PM GatiShakti programme is transforming infrastructure planning landscape, through use of cutting edge technology, that has contributed in terms of significant reduction in time and cost overruns in infrastructure projects. While congratulating the Hon’ble Chief Minister and Government of Gujarat on the successful adoption of PM GatiShakti, he emphasised that Gujarat’s pro-active approach has set an example for other States to follow. The high utility and simple fundamentals of the PM GatiShakti programme, has enabled easy adoption by States/UTs and is contributing to the vision of a double-engine growth that is rooted in the cooperative federalism principles. He ascertained that PM GatiShakti will not only remain a planning tool for India, but it will be adopted as a planning tool by the entire world.

Sh. Bhupendra Bhai Patel, during his address, emphasised that it is important to align Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to make Amrit Kaal a golden era for India’s economy with effective planning and implementation of sound infrastructure development projects. PM GatiShakti National Master Plan is conceptualised covering citizen services, industries, businesses, manufacturers, agriculture and farmers and rural systems. The GIS platform facilitates seamless coordination, physical and financial monitoring, and timely completion of projects. Thus, it can be concluded that through PM GatiShakti (PMGS), a comprehensive vision from integrated infrastructure planning to implementation, can be achieved.

While setting the context in this session, Smt. Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Logistics Division, MoCI, showcased the contribution of the PM GatiShakti programme towards integrated planning and creation of Next Generation Infrastructure, and promoting people-centric development. She used this opportunity to showcase some of the best use cases of PM GatiShakti in sectors including telecom, petroleum and natural gas, renewable energy, area based planning, etc. These benefits also resonated with the success stories shared by other panellists from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and State of Gujarat.

A Panel Discussion on “Resilient Supply Chains and Smart Logistics” laid out a plethora of opportunities and developments in the logistics ecosystem, that are attracting cross-sectoral investments. Useful insights on port-led development model, convergence approach for good governance, infrastructure as a facilitator of trade, positive impact of Atal Setu – Mumbai trans-harbor link on logistics movement in the surrounding area, domestic innovations like GST, ULIP, Logistics Data Bank, Digital Twin, and AI in logistics, in facilitating collaboration among various stakeholders in the logistics ecosystem, were discussed by the panellists. Demand driven planning on PMGS, and need for standardisation for easier cross-border flows, are among the few parameters that are forming a part of the road map for 2030, using technology for efficient logistics ecosystem.

The pro-active approach of Government of India (GoI) in respect of (i) G20 Delhi declaration on global value chains (ii) supply chain arrangements under Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) 2021, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), are all aimed at strengthening partnerships for resilient and sustainable supply chains. Further, GoI’s reforms and schemes such as PLI, Make In India, PMGS, Bharatmala, Sagarmala, liberalisation of FDI regime, Free trade Agreements, etc. are strengthening investment flows and manufacturing to progressively integrate supply chains in the country and make them more resilient.