NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged on Thursday to slash red tape and harness the benefits of a huge young population as he launched a campaign to attract global business to manufacture in India.

India’s business-friendly new leader wants to revive his country’s flagging economic fortunes by kick-starting a manufacturing sector long eclipsed by that of neighbouring China.

“We don’t need to invite the world to India, they are ready to come. We just need to give them our address,” Modi said at the launch of his ‘Make in India’ campaign.

“India is the only country in the world that has the power of democracy, demographic dividend and demand,” he added, saying India’s young people stood to benefit from manufacturing growth.

Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in May on a mandate to revive the economy, which is going through its worst slowdown in two decades.

The government has already relaxed rules for foreign investors, eager to create jobs for the millions of Indians who enter the employment market each year.

But any company seeking to do business still has to contend with byzantine regulations and a stringent tax regime.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2014