Pariksha SaathiPM Pitches 'Power to Empower' at Bloomberg New Economy Forum, First Edition Held in India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, the first time this annual meeting of business and policy leaders has been hosted in India; PIB published the English rendering of his Hindi speech on 13 October 2026. Picking up the forum's theme of new sources of global power, he argued that what matters is not who controls technology, data or knowledge but whether it is used to widen opportunity, an idea he called 'Power to Empower'. As examples he pointed to cheap mobile data, a common digital payments system used by street vendors and large showrooms alike, Direct Benefit Transfer through the JAM trinity, and more than 2.5 lakh startups, about half of them from smaller cities and towns. On the economy, he said growth in the April-June quarter was 7.8%, the current account deficit came down to 0.61% of GDP last year, and foreign exchange reserves are above 700 billion dollars. He added that renewable energy capacity has risen from about 75 GW in 2014 to roughly 300 GW, and that India met its 40% non-fossil power capacity goal in November 2021, nine years early.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
India submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris climate process on 2 October 2015. It had three quantitative goals for 2030: 40% of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources, a 33-35% cut in the emissions intensity of GDP from 2005 levels, and an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through more forest and tree cover. In August 2022 the Union Cabinet approved an updated NDC that raised the emissions-intensity target to 45% and the non-fossil capacity target to about 50% by 2030, as a step towards India's net-zero goal of 2070.
Reference: PIB, Cabinet approval of India's updated NDC (3 August 2022)
Check yourself: after India reached 40% non-fossil installed power capacity in 2021, what non-fossil capacity share did the updated 2022 NDC set for 2030?
About 50% of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, up from the 40% goal in the original 2015 NDC.
Revision task: list the economic figures quoted in this speech (quarterly growth, current account deficit, forex reserves, renewable capacity) and mark which ones are targets and which are achievements.
Test yourself
At the first Bloomberg New Economy Forum held in India, the Prime Minister said growth in the April-June quarter was what?
Show the answer
Answer: 7.8%
The PM said April-June growth was 7.8%, the current account deficit fell to 0.61% of GDP last year, forex reserves are above 700 billion dollars, and renewable capacity has risen from about 75 GW in 2014 to roughly 300 GW.
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