Gujarat, TN attracting most global investments into India, other states should emulate: Gita Gopinath

Gita Gopinath

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the two bright spots in India where foreign investments are coming in, Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, said on August 16, while listing some important short term and long-term goals the country should focus on to get into the thick of the global supply chain.

The investments trickling into both these states can be attributed to their high rankings in terms of business climate, in terms of ease of doing business, handling red tape etc, Gopinath told India Today and AajTak TV channels. Implementing such a practice on a nation-wide scale can be very helpful, she added.

While listing the short-term goals ahead of the nation, Gopinath cited labour reforms as being very important. India has the new Labour Codes and its implementation, which an ongoing process, is to be looked at, she said. This requires regulation at the central level but will also require incentivising the states to implementing the Labour Codes.

Gopinath also pointed towards the need for investments into public and digital infrastructure. While a lot has been done, lot more needs to done in that area, she added.

Trade restrictions is another for India to look at, the economist said. This is going to be an important decade of opportunity for India, as the world is going to diversify and looking for other markets to sell to and other markets to buy from -- and this is where India comes into the picture. In that area, there is a "huge amount of interest in India right now", she added.

"So India needs to become trade friendly, as that's usually a path to getting into global supply chains,” she said.

While speaking about the long-term goals for India, Gopinath cited education, skilling, land reforms, and agriculture sector reforms. Human capital and skilling, with the skill mismatch being very large in India, changing that is going to be very important, the economist added.