NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday set ambitious targets for India’s banking and pharmaceutical sectors, calling for at least one Indian bank to feature among the world’s top five and Indian companies to rank among the five largest global pharmaceutical players.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on Independence Day, Modi said India’s economic progress should translate into globally recognised companies across key sectors.
“The banking sector in India is flourishing; one Indian bank should be among the top five globally,” PM Modi said.
He also said Indian companies should strive to be among the world’s top five pharmaceutical companies.
INDIA’S COMPANIES NEED A GLOBAL SCALE
The Prime Minister’s comments are part of a larger push to build Indian companies that can compete with the world’s biggest businesses.
PM Modi has set a target of having 50 Indian companies in the Fortune 500, arguing that India’s ambitions need to be much larger as the country seeks to strengthen its global economic footprint.
He said the world has started recognising India’s capabilities and pointed to the country’s conclusion of FTAs with 40 countries as one sign of its expanding global engagement.
The push comes as India seeks to combine greater self-reliance at home with a stronger presence in international markets.
BANKING, PHARMA AND THE NEXT PHASE
PM Modi said India’s banking sector is flourishing and should now aim for a much stronger position globally.
For the pharmaceutical industry, he called for Indian companies to become part of the world’s top five, underlining the need for Indian businesses to build scale and global competitiveness.
The targets form part of PM Modi’s broader “Shakti ki Sapt Dhara” framework, under which he identified seven areas that India must strengthen over the next five to seven years.
These include manufacturing, agriculture and food processing, technology and innovation, Gati-Shakti, defence, the green and blue economy, and India’s soft power.
FROM DOMESTIC STRENGTH TO GLOBAL RECOGNITION
PM Modi said India cannot shut its market to the world and instead needs to produce quality goods that can compete globally.
The same approach, he said, should extend to India’s technology and digital capabilities. He called for digital public technologies developed in India to reach every corner of the world and said India should aim to take Made-in-India 6G globally.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the growth of Indian manufacturing over the past 12 years. Electronic manufacturing has grown nearly sevenfold, while mobile phone production has increased 33-fold, he said. Defence production has nearly quadrupled during the period.
The broader objective, according to Modi, is to use India’s manufacturing, technology, financial and human capital to create globally competitive businesses.
A FIVE-TO-SEVEN-YEAR CHALLENGE
PM Modi said India should achieve in the next five to seven years what could not be achieved in the previous five to seven decades.
That ambition now extends beyond economic growth figures to the global standing of Indian companies — whether in banking, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing or technology.
The targets of 50 Indian companies in the Fortune 500, an Indian bank among the world’s top five and Indian pharma companies among the global top five underline the scale of the ambition Modi laid out for India’s next phase of economic expansion.
