Chennai | Asserting that good infrastructure spurs growth in all sectors, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created employment opportunities for youth and also a framework to promote startups in the country. The Vande Bharat, airports, ports modernisation, highways, and expressways, among other projects are examples of how infrastructure would make a difference in people's life, he noted.

"After graduation, you will join some stream of economic activity where infrastructure plays a very big difference. If you have good infrastructure in the country, then the shipping industry and other sectors, too, develop," the Minister said while speaking at the 19th convocation of SRM Institute of Science and Technology, here.

He said the Modi-government has ensured development across all sectors. Ten years ago the country imported electronics products but today 98 percent of the electronic components were made in India. And Tamil Nadu contributed towards manufacturing iphones and some of the mobile components made for the entire world are sourced from Tamil Nadu.

"That's the type of growth happening in India sector after sector," he said. Though India introduced 5G technology about 10 months ago, it now has 2.75 lakh sites in the country and became the second-largest 5G ecosystem in the world. Whereas developed country like the US which launched 5G in 2019 has only about one lakh sites, he said.

Today digital technology is making a big impact practically on every industry. Last month about 930 crore digital transactions were made in the country and even a small coconut vendor sitting in a village was making digital payment, the Minister said.

"If you can create a solution to solve the problem of the entire population in the world, you can achieve it because the central government has created a defined structure in the country," he said pointing to the students. The PM has created a startup framework where anybody can start a venture without any hassles.

From about 400 startups a decade ago, India has one lakh startups today, he said and urged the students to focus on their work to achieve tremendous results, have clarity in thinking and be persistent in finding a solution to people's problems.

T R Paarivendhar, founder Chancellor, SRM-IST also spoke.