'Real secularism is...': PM Modi reveals his ambitious vision for a 'Viksit Bharat'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in a podcast with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, talked about India stack, saying that India has shown the whole world how to democratise technology for the benefit of common people.

"I can send money directly into the bank accounts of 10 crore people in just 30 seconds," he said, adding that he could do the same for cylinder subsidy. "I can send cylinder subsidy for 5 crore people in just 30 seconds. With the India stack, crores of rupees that used to get wasted due to corruption ended, and more and more people took the benefit of technology."

Talking about UPI, the PM says when the global leaders come, they ask him how UPI works. "I always tell them to visit a vendor in India. "In the world of fintech, India has shown the world how to democratise the technology. You just need a smartphone these days and you don't need anything else. This is a tech-driven century. We have also made an innovation commission and innovation fund," PM Modi said.

On changing the perception of India's entrepreneurship image in the outside world, the PM said he does not believe that he should be given the entire credit for that. "I believe it's our duty to connect with the global talent."

On speaking about competition, he said used to tell publicly that you (NRIs) would regret it if you didn’t come back to India. "The world is changing. It is India's time. As the head of the state, America had refused me a visa. I held a press conference that day where I had said, 'One day the world would stand in line for an Indian visa.' I gave this statement in 2005. Now, it's 2025. I can see that this is now the time for India."

The PM also talked about minimum government and maximum governance, saying his government has abolished 1,500 old laws that criminalised certain things. "Some believe that minimum government means fewer ministers and fewer employees. However, this is not my understanding. I made different ministries for skill, cooperatives, and fisheries."

He said when he says minimum government, that means fewer compliances, and greater efficiency and speed of work.

At the start of the podcast, he was talking about the first era of his early life, when he mentioned that after he became the Prime Minister for the first time in 2014, Chinese President Xi, like other global leaders, called on him to convey best wishes in 2014.

“When I became the PM in 2014, leaders from across the world made courtesy calls. Chinese President Xi also called and expressed his wish to visit India. I said I welcome your decision and he said he also invited me to visit Gujarat. He then said he wanted to visit Vadnagar, my village."

He elaborated further: "President Xi shared that he and I share a special bond. Chinese philosopher Hiuen Tsang spent the longest time in your village, Vadnagar. When he returned to China, he settled in my village. So he said that's a connection between the two of us."