Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke of India’s pursuit of the principle of “power to empower” and its commitment to the democratisation of technology. Referring to the country’s strong economic growth, the PM said that in a world filled with uncertainty, India offers assurance, reliability and stability, and that reforms for his government were “not a compulsion”, but its “conviction”.
Addressing the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in the national capital, the PM flagged the weaponisation of resources and trade routes, calling for greater trust and cooperation among countries facing disruptions. He said India does not grow at anyone’s cost. “We grow with the world, and for the world.”
The PM said India’s expanding economic and technological capabilities could help address global challenges amid geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruptions and growing competition over strategic resources.
His comments come at a time when India and much of the Global South are facing challenges to their food and energy security, the threat of sanctions and supply-chain disruptions, including those involving critical minerals. India has raised these issues at international platforms, including with the United States and China.
In his speech, the PM spoke of India as the “mother of democracy”. He said India has over a hundred languages, nearly 80,000 registered newspapers and publications, over a thousand satellite TV channels, in excess of 500 million YouTube users and over 500 million Instagram users.
“In our country, people openly debate different issues, and citizens discuss diverse viewpoints. In the present era, one factor that has played a major role in enabling this is digital power,” he said. The comments come amid sustained protests across the country since July.
Modi detailed how his government, in the past 12 years, had placed great emphasis on making mobile data affordable, which has helped students, young people and small shopkeepers in smaller towns and villages, and termed it “power to empower”.
On India’s belief in inclusive technology, the PM said that today, technology is power. Data is power. Knowledge is power. Innovation is power. “But the real question is not who possesses power. Rather, the question is how that power is being used.”
The PM referred to India’s digital payments ecosystem and its sharing of its digital public infrastructure experience with the countries of the Global South as evidence of its belief in “power to empower”.
The PM spoke of the 7.8 per cent economic growth recorded in Q1FY27, forex reserves exceeding $700 billion and reforms spanning taxation, insolvency and labour laws as evidence of India’s resilience. “In a world filled with uncertainty, India offers the assurance of reliability and stability,” he said. “India’s reform express continues to move ahead at high speed. For us, reforms are not a compulsion. Reforms are our conviction.”
On the current geopolitical situation, Modi said supply chains, energy, minerals, payment systems and technology are becoming instruments of pressure and dominance.
He said many countries were facing challenges related to ageing populations. In such circumstances, the PM said the world needed more trust among countries.
