India’s growth trajectory holds  immense potential for global stakeholders to establish energy, infrastructure  and technology collaboration with the country, a UN forum here has been told.

Counsellor in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Ashish Sinha  stressed on Wednesday at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development  Follow Up that India wanted to use growth as a mechanism to pull  the maximum number of people out of poverty and improve quality of  life in an inclusive manner.

“India has retained its position as the world’s fastest growing major economy. Indian economy has been growing over 7 per cent for several years and the forecast for the future is equally robust,” he said.

Sinha noted that India improved its ranking by 23 positions in  the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings last year.

 India improved its ranking on the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’  report for the second straight year, jumping 23 places to the 77th  position on the back of reforms related to insolvency, taxation and  other areas.

“India’s growth trajectory holds immense potential for our global  stakeholders to establish energy, natural resource, and infrastructure  and technology collaboration with us,” Sinha said.

The current global economic outlook also reiterates the need for  the promotion of policies for enhancing economic growth and growth  inducing investments, he said.

Earlier this month, the World Bank said India’s GDP growth was  expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5 per cent in fiscal year 19-20, driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly  private-improved export performance and resilient consumption.

 â€œThe objective is to bank the unbanked, secure the unsecured, fund  the unfunded and service the un-serviced areas,” Sinha said.

Noting that India has taken strong initiatives for financial inclusion,  he said in the the past three years, the government has opened over  320 million bank accounts for those who never had an account.

 â€œWe have leveraged these bank accounts with the power of a biometric  identity system and mobile phones, to deliver subsidies and services  to the deserving poor,” he said, adding that 1.6 million people have  benefited from the recently launched cashless health insurance scheme  called ‘Ayushman Bharat’ in the first four months of its launch.

India is also the sixth largest producer of renewable energy in  the world and Indian solar power capacity will grow robustly at an  annual average rate of 15.3 per cent to reach 105.9 GW by 2028, up  from 26 GW in 2018, he said.

Sinha noted that research and innovation would be the driving force  in the 4th industrial revolution era. The Indian government has introduced  the flagship programme Start-up India with 1.4 billion dollars fund  for four years to create a startup ecosystem in India.

 The effort of the government has also been to maximise resources  with lowering of the tax rate by following the theory of lower taxation,  higher compliance, he said.

 â€œHowever, we fully acknowledge the role of international cooperation on tax matters in a globalised and digital economy. In this regard, to further strengthen the work of the UN Tax Committee, India continued its contribution to its Voluntary Trust Fund for the Tax Committee for the second consecutive year in 2018,” Sinha said.

Stepping up our cooperation with the fellow developing countries here at the United Nations, India established the India-UN Development Partnership Fund that supports Southern-owned and led, demand-driven, and transformational sustainable development projects.

A sum of USD 150 million has been committed for the next decade focusing on developmental projects in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. The Fund already has projects in 39 countries.

Sinha said the world finds itself at a critical moment which calls for an action-oriented resolve in an increasingly complex inter-dependent world.

“The 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement and Addis Ababa Action Agenda have been remarkable acknowledgements of these interlinked challenges, and our collective responsibility to overcome these with collective action at the international level,” he said.