Asserting that while trade between India and Norway has been expanding but there is significant potential waiting to be realised, he said, "The new government is taking a number of measures to encourage investments, revive the manufacturing sector in India, promote skill development, develop smart cities and engage closely with all interested partners and investors in India and abroad to make this happen".
The PM's vision of a lean, agile, mobile and technology driven force requires more than 1.7 percent of GDP that it now gets.
But it scores high on firm dynamics - which is partly accidental, as it benefits from high labour turnover.
We look back at some of the most inspirational stories featured on Rediff Get Ahead in 2014.
Digital campaigns compared to billboards or even print ads not only have the power to reach wider audiences but also reduce the campaign costs. The focus on social media by political parties at election time, therefore, is hardly misplaced.
In 2012, Akula quit as chairman of Bharat Financial Inclusion (formerly SKS Microfinance), which he'd founded and led to a successful initial public offering
The 30-share Sensex ended down 339 points at 28,119 and the 50-share Nifty closed 100 points lower at 8,438.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 list is harder to get into than Stanford or Harvard University. Meet the desis who made the cut this year.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 90 points at 19,429 after hitting an intra-day low of 19,398 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 40 points at 5,881 after touching an intra-day low of 5,871.
Indians at large harbour a notion that their country is cherrypicking out of the American basket of goodies, but the policymakers in Delhi and the political leadership are well aware that it can only be a pipe dream since a military alliance with a superpower is a profound irrevocable commitment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
According to experts, while allegations against Indian IT firms of visa misuse are nothing new, this time the scrutiny could be much greater.
'The ultimate satisfaction of helping in the country's space programme is the bigger achievement attracting women to space research -- and they are so good at it!'
'India will come increasingly in the US crosshairs if it insists on maintaining its strategic autonomy, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Two Americans, Diana Jue and Jackie Stenson, are living their dreams in India's rural heartlands...
Singapore wants to know the basic fundamentals of such cities in terms of sustainable clean environment, sound regulatory framework and robust land bank.
India needs to come up with new ideas to make the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas more appealing to overseas Indians. The Diasporas talents should be used for the country's development, says Thomas Abraham, founder of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin
The 30-share Sensex ended down 538 points at 26,781 and 50-share Nifty ended down 152 points at 8,067.
What India should not do is take the path China took at one stage to become the world's foremost cheap factory, says Subir Roy.
The two countries also signed three other agreements -- to enhance aviation links, to jointly work in the area of energy efficiency and promotion of parliamentary cooperation.
The government must undo the damage inflicted by the flawed policies of globalisation, and India should be converted into a country where entrepreneurs can thrive and the entire population can participate in the economy, says Arvind Kumar.
Five longtime Republicans -- K V Kumar, Puneet Ahluwalia, Suhail Khan, Ajay Kuntamukkala and Harry Walia -- have been named to the GOP's Asian Pacific American Advisory Council.
Advice for a healthy heart from one of India's top heart surgeons.
India should enhance its economic, cultural and defence ties with Mongolia. It is high time Modi should focus on gaining clout in smaller Asian countries such as Mongolia. It is in this context, India's engagement with Mongolia would give much-needed impetus to India's foreign policy, says Sana Hashmi.
Pravasis have created a great impression among Americans about their maternal country, India, says Dr Joy Cherian, the first Asian American to be appointed to a sub-cabinet level position in the US government.
'Modi's recent decisions to improve India-China relations, adjust India's neighbourhood policies and to rebalance India's ties with the major powers are linked to his political agenda.' 'Of course, the good part is that this agenda is also in the national interest,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The annual list, released on Wednesday by Geneva-based World Economic Forum, comes at a time when the new Indian government has completed 100 days in power and has promised further steps to revive its economy and the ease of doing business in the country.
Most forecasts do not have a track record of transparency and accuracy
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited ASEAN leaders to be the chief guests.
Thenmozhi Soundararajan works to break the shackles of caste for Dalits.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 604 points at 28,845 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 181 points at 8,757. The Bank Nifty ended down 602 points at 19,146.
The turmoil on the Street and a continued fall of the rupee may affect growth stocks, pushing equity investors back to the relative safety of defensive counters, or forcing them to flee markets, or both.
Over 50 Indians in Forbes' under 30 list of super achievers.
Infosys was the top Sensex loser along with other index heavyweights ITC and HDFC.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
IT exporters were the top gainers amid a weak rupee along with select index heavyweights.
Several factors seem to have corrected in India in the past six months, says the president of New Development Bank.
Here's a glimpse of Modi's first day in Israel.
India's move to opt for Japanese bullet trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route had raised concerns in China which is competing with Japan to build high-speed rail networks in India.
'Well begun is half done, today there are more hits than misses by the Modi government in its support towards science in India,' says Pallava Bagla.
