PM Congratulates ‘Invest India’ on Winning UN’s 2020 Investment Promotion Award

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted ‘Invest India’ for winning the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award given by UNCTAD (The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).

While greeting Invest India, PM Modi tweeted, “Congratulations to Invest India for winning the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award given by UNCTAD. This is a testimony to our government’s focus on making India the world’s preferred investment destination & improving ease of doing business.”

UNCTAD has declared ‘Invest India’, country’s national investment promotion agency, as a winner of the 2020 award in the ceremony held on December 7, 2020 at its headquarters in Geneva. Some of the past winners of the award were Germany, South Korea and Singapore.

The award, which is the most coveted award for Investment Promotion Agencies(IPAs), recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements and best practices of IPAs across the globe. The evaluation was based on UNCTAD’s assessment of work undertaken by 180 IPAs. UNCTAD is a central agency that monitors performance of IPAs and identifies global best practices.

Earlier in March this year, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor the response of IPAs to the pandemic. UNCTAD reported best practices from Investment Promotion Agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July 2020.

Thus, the response of IPAs to the pandemic became the basis for the evaluation of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.

The UNCTAD highlighted good practices followed by Invest India, such as the Business Immunity Platform, Exclusive Investment Forum webinar series, its social media engagement and focus COVID response teams (such as business reconstruction, stakeholder outreach and supplier outreach) created as a response to the pandemic, in its publications. Invest India has also shared long-term strategies and practices being followed for investment promotion, facilitation and retention at UNCTAD’s high-level brainstorming sessions.

Speaking on the achievement, Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India said that, “the award is a testament to the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a preferred investment destination. It bears testimony to his focus on Ease of Living, Ease of Doing Business and creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”