New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Development of the northeastern region Jitendra Singh has said that India is fast emerging as a preferred destination for business and entrepreneurship as several investors from all over the world are willing to set up ventures even in lesser preferred regions.
"As a result of a number of decisions taken by our government to ease doing of business, India is fast emerging as a preferred destination for business and entrepreneurship. Investors from all over are willing to set up ventures even in the hitherto lesser preferred regions like the northeastern region of the country," Singh was quoted as saying in an official statement.
He was speaking at a "Luncheon Roundtable" meet on "Sustainable Production through Fourth Industrial Revolution Innovations" in the Swiss town of Davos on Wednesday.
Singh allayed fears expressed by some participants about excessive regulatory controls by certain governments across the world and said that the Indian government had made a conscious effort to bring in ease of business through relaxation of avoidable regulations in over three years.
"Within a short span of three to four years, the government has done away with nearly 1,500 such rules and regulations which had become obsolete and irrelevant in this age."
On the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots to promote production and business in future, Singh said: "While these technological advances can prove an asset by contributing to sustainable development, the challenge, however, will be to ensure that human intelligence does not end up becoming a slave to Artificial Intelligence."
The most ideal situation would be when human and artificial components supplement each other's resources to accomplish the Fourth Industrial Revolution Innovations, the Minister said.
He said that international markers indicate that 2020 will be a milestone for evaluating progress towards the 2030 agenda, in India, an important milestone would be 2022 -- the year which marks the completion of 75 years of its independence.
"Several recent initiatives of the India government have been targeted to meet their end point by 2022 following which further journey will be to boost competitiveness and aim at targets beyond."
Singh referred to steps taken by India to use alternative sources of energy with the twin objectives of meeting growing energy needs and keeping in mind the environmental concerns.
"When, for example, over 50 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions result from the cradle-to-factory journey of goods, India has already geared itself to astounding levels of innovation in all spheres."
Singh also referred to new opportunities for public-private collaboration being facilitated by the Indian government, with least intimidation or interference. This would serve as an incentive for small and medium enterprises to stay relevant in future scenarios, he added.