Modi meets Zuckerberg: PM hails `Make in India` initiative, eyes $20 trillion economy

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday participated in a Townhall with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg said that he supports the Indian government's effort to connect rural communities to the internet. 

"We are an $8 trillion economy today. My dream is for India to become a $20 trillion dollar economy," Modi said, adding: "Amazing, how perception about India has changed in a very short time. We have brought in a new level of confidence." 

India is a heaven for those wanting to invest, we are are working on ease of doing business, Modi said. He also said that many countries do not know where to invest money. He said his government was laying thrust on three sectors particularly -- agriculture, services and manufacturing -- along with building the physical and digital infrastructure simultaneously.

Noting that India is a "heaven" for investors, Modi said, "I do not believe that there is dearth of money. Countries have money but do not know where to invest. I am giving them the address. Here is the place (India)

“I am happy that I am connecting with Mark Zuckerberg today, the person responsible for everyone over the world connecting,” Modi said. "I hope you can become the inspiration and aspiration of Indians worldwide."

Narendra Modi said social media has strengthened the bond between the government and people."Social media can tell the government where it`s going wrong, gives them opportunity for cross correction, this is the strength of democracy," he said during a question answer session at the Facebook Headquarters here.

"I wasn`t fortunate enough to get knowledge, wasn`t educated enough. But I think social media made up for that a lot," he added. He said that when he adopted social media he had no idea that would become the Prime Minister and it would help him in governance. "Today because of social media, the governments are being given a chance to fix mistakes," he added. 

“Technology has connected the world. This is very helpful for service sector, tourism,” Modi added. 

Talking about the results of his government's efforts, the Prime Minister said that FDI from only the USA had gone up by 87 percent in the last 15 months and FII was also increasing.

"India has 3Ds which are its unique strength -- Democragraphic dividend, Democracy and Demand. I have added new D - Deregulation. My philosophy is that government has no business to be in business. It is not government's job to run a hotel. Let a businessman run it," he said. 

The Prime Minister got emotional while speaking about his mother. “It's not just the case with Narendra Modi, many mothers in India sacrifice their entire lives for their children,” Modi said. “Mother and teacher are two individuals who've greatest impact on a person's life.”

“We are bringing technology into governance in a very big way. This is making governance easy, effective, economical and transparent,” Modi said. He also said that now a lot of priority is placed on technology. 

“Will connect all Indian villages via optical fibre,” Modi said. He also said that India has huge potential in the field of tourism. “iWays are as important as highways in 21st century,” Modi said. 

Modi said 60 percent population in India did not have a bank account till a few months ago. “ We have opened 18 crore accounts in the first 100 days of tenure. “Government is working on deregulation, government should have no business to be in business, Modi said.

He also said that India needs to focus on agricultural, service and manufacturing sector to achieve that. When I adopted social media, I did not know I will go on to become a CM or a PM, Modi told Zuckerberg.

I never though social media could be used in such a way when I started out with, it was out of curiousity, Modi added.

A number of people from all walks of life were presented at the Menlo Park headquarters of online social networking website Facebook. Zuckerberg has voiced a strong support for the Digital India initiated by Prime Minister Modi`s government in his Facebook post."Looking forward to discussing this with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Facebook today,"

Earlier during the day, Mark Zuckerberg also changed his Facebook profile picture, “I changed my profile picture to support Digital India,” Zuckerberg said.

The Townhall was held at the Facebook headquarters, which has issued strict instructions for employees and media personnel to follow a formal dress code.

Modi continued his Silicon Valley tour with visits to Facebook and Google Inc headquarters before an event at the San Jose Convention Center that 18,000 people are expected to attend.

Modi began his visit to California with meetings with top CEOs including Apple's Chief Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

With Agency Inputs