ET World Leaders Forum: Trust-based reforms transformed India’s middle class, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted at The that his government’s approach to reforms — based on trust, not suspicion, of the people — has led to transformative changes in the that remain a distant dream even in many developed nations.

In his speech, he highlighted policy initiatives that have touched the lives of the common people, from railways and Delhi metro to the digital revolution.

He also mentioned opening up of the defence and nuclear sectors.

Addressing leaders from the world of industry, trade, politics and international affairs, the Prime Minister emphasised that there has been a big shift in the government’s attitude toward regulations and policy making, with “permitted, unless prohibited” being the mantra. “In the past 10-12 years, the reforms India has carried out related to ease of living have changed people’s lives, especially the lives of our middle class, in a way that is still only a dream in many developed countries of the world,” he said on Friday.

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This transformative shift in governance philosophy is about moving from the ‘production-linked punishment (PLP) model’ of previous dispensations to the production-linked incentive (PLI) programme that has fundamentally changed economic outcomes. The PLI scheme has attracted Rs 2.5 lakh crore in actual investments, driven Rs 22 lakh crore in production and sales, generated Rs 15 lakh crore in exports, and created over 1.4 million jobs.

“Where the punishment model of the previous licence raj increased unemployment, today, our incentive model is actively creating lakhs of new jobs,” Modi said.

As part of its human-centric approach to governance, the government has undertaken massive safety upgrades within the Indian Railways, including the installation of electronic interlocking at over 6,500 stations and 10,000 level crossings, and elimination of roughly 9,000 unmanned crossings.

“Systems must be made in such a way that there is absolute sensitivity towards every single human life and their precious time,” he said.

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Shifting focus to policy-level reforms, the Prime Minister explained that the government designs proactive, pro-people and pro-growth policies tailored to the nation’s needs, rather than forcing the country to conform to restrictive rules.

He underlined the explosive growth of India’s drone industry across agriculture, defence and content creation. “We fully freed drone-flying from shackles, and today, India’s drone industry is taking unprecedented flight,” he said.

Modi also mentioned the opening up of the civil nuclear sector to private players, stating that the SHANTI law has ushered in groundbreaking structural reforms. This has led to a historic recast of over 40 ordnance factories into seven modern corporate entities.

He credited these bold moves for supercharging the nation’s self-reliance and boosting defence exports 55 times since 2014. “Today, India is actively becoming self-reliant for its defence needs too, and our defence exports have massively increased,” the PM said.

The digital revolution has given India the status of having the world’s cheapest data and fastest 5G rollouts. He praised the integration of Aadhaar with mobile and banking services for enabling seamless eKYC and digital authentication, revolutionising everything, from opening bank accounts to filing income tax returns. “Today, if you have to open a bank account, the government has literally brought the bank itself directly to you,” Modi said.