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London, Nov 14 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that diversity was India's strength as he urged the country's diaspora to become integral part of its growth story and dispelled concerns highlighted in media over some incidents intolerance in the country, saying that "there is a very deep and best India outside TV screen".

Addressing a huge, enthusiastic gathering of British Indians at the expansive Wembley Stadium here, Modi announced resumption of a direct flight between London and Ahmedabad, simplification of the process concerning Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card and measures taken towards electronic travel authorisation and e-migration portal.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was present at the stadium, described it "a historic day" and said it was biggest gathering of Indian diaspora.

Modi, who spoke for over an hour, talked of his government's plans to launch railway rupee bond in London and raised slogan "James Bond, Brooke Bond and Rupee Bond" to loud cheers from the gathering.

Modi, who has faced questions over intolerance from the media during his visit to the United Kingdom, said India was a land of diversity. "Diversity is its pride and its strength," he said.

Towards the end of his speech, Modi recalled work of Imran Khan, a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan who has developed over 50 mobile applications related to education and dedicated them to students.

"My India is in Imran Khan of Alwar," Modi said. He said leaders of the world ask him with some amazement how there is so much harmony in a diverse and big country like India.

Referring to the work of his government in the past 18 months, Modi said India's stature had risen in the world and said the diaspora must also be experiencing it.

"This change is the sign of India's success. Today when India talks, it does from a position of equality," he said.

"India is moving on the path of development at a fast pace. I can tell you that the speed which India has taken, the direction it has taken, results will be evident soon," Modi said.

Modi took out his watch and demonstrated that if it is seen upright it shows London time and if it is reversed it shows the time in India.

"There is no other two countries with such equation. Till the time there is sun and moon, the relations between India and England will continue to gain strength. We will cross new frontiers of development," Modi said.

Modi thanked people for "outpouring their affections" and said India will not judge its diaspora by the colour of their passport.

"You have as much right on India as I have," Modi said and asked them to renew their links with the country as their dreams will be fulfilled.

Referring to the challenges of terrorism and global warming faced by the world, Modi said life of Mahatma Gandhi showed solution to these problems and India can show the right path.

He also referred to Sufi tradition and said its greater spread would have helped check terrorism.

Modi said while his government wanted FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in many sectors, for him FDI conveyed First Develop India.

Referring to increase in FDI flows, he said, "The world's confidence in India was rising. That is our biggest strength. We want to move ahead with that."

Referering to his proposal to launch a global solar alliance later this month in Paris, he said there were 102 countries which have harness solar energy. "India can lead in this," he said.

Modi said he wanted to make a "Clean India" and provide round the clock power to all by 2019, which is 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi referred to his humble origins as tea seller and recalled his push towards fighting female infanticide and financial inclusion.

Modi told the gathering that India has no reason to be poor took digs at the previous governments over corruption and their inability to remove poverty and said 18,000 villages in India were still without electricity.

"I do not why there is a habit to see that it stays," he said.

Referring to India having 800 million people below 35 years, he said "a country which has so many youth cannot stay behind".

Modi said India's rankings had improved in ease of doing business and in fighting corruption.

Without going into specifics, Modi said he had heard problems raised by Sikh leaders who met him and was working towards addressing them.

People intermittently shouted "Modi, Modi" as the prime minister delivered the speech.

Earlier Report

UK visit: Modi meets Queen; top CEOs seek transparency, uniform treatment

London, Nov 13 (PTI): Top CEOs from India and the UK today pitched for a more transparent and consistent decision-making regime as also a uniform treatment of corporates across the world, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to "ceaselessly" work towards Indian economy's integration with the world.

A reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum, during its first meeting today, identified six overarching themes as important areas of collaboration to take forward -- smart cities and the digital economy, healthcare sector, education and skills, engineering, defence and security, and financial and professional services.

The meeting took place in presence of Modi as well as his British counterpart David Cameron. "We are confidently, consistently and ceaselessly working to integrate our economy with the world," Modi told the gathering at 11 Downing Street, next door to Cameron's office in London.

Cameron encouraged the company chairs and chief executives to identify the "best ways to build new trade partnerships and investment opportunities and use the strength of existing commercial relationships to identify and build more partnerships between innovative Indian and UK companies". The forum was co-chaired by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry on the Indian side and Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone on the UK side.

"The common ask of the industry in both countries is a business environment characterised by simplicity in structures and processes, clarity and transparency in decision-making and uniformity and consistency in the treatment of corporates and people across borders," Mistry said.

"The new UK-India CEO Forum provides a powerful foundation with which to implement initiatives that will bring our two countries closer together, based on mutual respect and shared values," said Mistry, who was joined by the likes of Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tata Consultancy Services CEO & MD N Chandrasekaran and Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani.

"Today's meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of the UK-India commercial relationship. India is the third largest investor in the UK, and the UK is the largest G20 investor in India," Gerry Grimstone said.

"This forum will forge deeper collaboration in areas where there is scope to take relationship to the next levels," said Grimstone, whose UK team included leading British company representatives like Vodafone chief executive Vitorio Calao, BAE CEO Ian King and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East.

The UK is the largest G20 investor in India, with 535 UK businesses employing 691,000 people across the country in sectors as diverse as retail, infrastructure, construction, information and communications technology, creative industries and healthcare.

In the UK, around 800 Indian businesses employ 110,000 people. "The two Prime Ministers welcomed the first meeting of the reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum. This Forum will be tasked with advising the Prime Ministers about the trade and investment opportunities and challenges," a joint statement issued by Modi and Cameron said.

The forum is backed by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Modi had sought to pre-empt some of the issues around taxation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and intellectual property rights (IPR) that were expected to feature in the closed-door talks today during his speech at the Guildhall in the City of London on Thursday evening.

"We have taken very decisive steps to remove a number of long pending concerns. To give you some examples, we have expedited regulatory clearances including security and environmental clearance...," Modi had said.

"We have clearly articulated that we will not resort to retrospective taxation and demonstrated this position in a number of ways. This includes not going for imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax on FPIs...We have rationalised the capital gains tax regime for Real Estate Investment Trusts. We have taken several initiatives for transparency and online processing in IP administration," the Prime Minister added.

"A comprehensive National IPR policy is being finalised," he told the gathering in the heart of London's financial district.

On the second day of Modi's three-day visit, deals worth nearly 9.2 billion pounds have already been announced that include 28 business-to-business agreements.

"It was a full day of engagement which included the conclusion of a civil nuclear agreement. Details of this will become clear over time but it involves a full chain agreement which will cover research and exchange of best practices... it opens up a whole world of opportunities for both countries," an MEA spokesperson said.

Vodafone's announcement of a 1.3-billion pounds investment package for India has been highlighted as a "big positive story" of the visit as the company has been at the centre of taxation rows in the past.

Other key investment announcements include King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Indo UK Healthcare Pvt Ltd's agreement to open King's College Hospital in Chandigarh, which will lead to the creation of jobs for 2,500 nurses and 500 doctors.

Genus ABS will be investing 1 million pounds in India, providing the latest dairy genetics and constructing a state-of-the-art facility near Pune in Maharashtra.

The largest Solar PV generator in the UK and Europe, Lightsource have announced 2-billion pounds investment in India.

E-commerce cloud platform provider, cloudBuy, is signing a contract with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for an online business to business marketplace.

Over the next five years, the platform is projected to facilitate transactions worth 3.5 billion pounds and increase trade further between traditional business partners India and the UK, with an estimated boost to the UK economy of 70 million pounds.

In a deal worth 20 million pounds, Holland & Barrett International are announcing that they have partnered with Apollo Hospitals, and are to open 1,000 Holland & Barrett outlets in India over the next five years, creating an expected 1,500 jobs in India.

Modi is expected to conclude his visit to the UK with a tour of one of the biggest success stories of India-UK collaboration – Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover's plant in Solihull, in the West Midlands region, on Saturday.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi said India is keen to develop its railway stations under the PPP mode and stressed that defence manufacturing was going to be the backbone of 'Make in India' initiative.

He also said that government has made radical changes in the FDI policy and India is now one of the most open economies of the world.

Tata Consultancy Service CEO N Chandrasekaran raised the issue of visa regime in the UK in the CEOs forum meeting.

Analjit Singh, founder and chairman of Max Healthcare, also highlighted the radical changes made by the Modi government with regard to the FDI policy.

DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant in his tweet said that UK-India CEO Forum discussed bilateral issues of developing bond markets, smart cities, defence manufacturing and skill development.

Modi gifts Queen Elizabeth Darjeeling tea, memorable photos

London, Nov 13 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the second day of his three-day visit to Britain, gifted Queen Elizabeth II a set of memorable photographs, special Darjeeling tea, and honey from Jammu and Kashmir as the British monarch hosted a luncheon banquet in his honour.

“These photographs of Her Majesty the Queen date back to the visit when she was Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade,” Modi tweeted.

According to an official statement, the photographs were taken 54 years ago from the queen's first visit to India in January-February 1961.

During the visit, Queen Elizabeth had also visited some other cities, including Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Taken on January 31, 1961, the first photograph shows her visiting the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, one day after the commemoration of the 13th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The second photograph was taken on February 19, 1961, in Chennai, and shows her at a reception in her honour by the then State of Madras where she was presented a cake to mark the first birthday of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

The third photograph was taken on February 25, 1961, and shows the queen riding an elephant in a procession to Balua Ghat in Varanasi, now Prime Minister Modi's parliamentary constituency. Another photo, taken on February 24, 1961, shows her visiting the Atomic Energy Centre at Trombay, near Mumbai.

In addition, Modi also presented to the queen some award-winning Darjeeling tea from Makaibari tea estate in West Bengal, fine organic honey from Jammu and Kashmir, and Tanchoi stoles that are a specialty of Varanasi.