The annual meeting of World Economic Forum, 2015 was held at Davos, Switzerland during 21-24 January, 2015. The theme of World Economic Forum, 2015 was ‘The New Global Context’. The discussions took place according to a pre-set agenda with specific invitees as speakers for specific sessions. As regards India’s participation, issues discussed were related to how India was planning to revive and accelerate economic modernization, growth and job creation including issues related to subjects like agriculture, water, infrastructure, energy and power, trade and investment, urban mobility, etc. Several bilateral meetings and investment meets with counterpart ministers and top global CEOs were also held. The “Make in India” initiatives were prominently highlighted through the branding exercise as well as through the investment meets and bilateral meetings.

Government of India has been actively encouraging PPPs through several initiatives, which include establishment of an institutional mechanism to speedy appraisal of projects, eliminate delays, adopt international best practices and have uniformity in appraisal mechanism and guidelines. The appraisal mechanism notified includes setting up of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC). A Viability Gap Funding Scheme for PPP projects has been created, which provides financial support in the form of grants to infrastructure projects undertaken through public private partnership with a view to make them commercially viable.

The scheme for ‘India Infrastructure Project Development Fund’ (IIPDF) has been launched to support PPP project preparation and development. The scheme supports up to 75% of the project development expenses. An institution to provide support to mainstreaming PPPs called 3P India was also announced in the Budget Speech 2014-15.

WEF’s Annual Meeting convenes the top global policy makers, business, academic and civil society leaders on a single platform to debate issues and arrive at solutions. In that context, the event served as the international launch pad for the “Make in India” initiatives among a global business audience, besides highlighting the positive changes in the policy framework for doing business in the country. Aspects related to opening up the Indian economy for FDI in various sectors of the economy and the measures taken to improve the Ease of Doing Business were highlighted.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Public private partnership reforms expand appraisal, grant support and project development funding to accelerate infrastructure investment. The Government of India promotes Public Private Partnerships through an appraisal mechanism including the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee, a Viability Gap Funding Scheme providing grants to render projects commercially viable, and the India Infrastructure Project Development Fund supporting project development expenses; complementary institutional support such as 3P India is intended to mainstream PPPs.