
"One of most decorated leaders in India's history": Amit Shah congratulates PM Modi for Cyprus's highest award
The Home Minister said that award not only reflects the Prime Minister's leadership but also strengthen India's diplomatic standing worldwide.
'Congratulations to PM Narendra Modi Ji on being conferred with Cyprus's highest civilian award, the 'Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III.'This reflects the continuously rising stature of India on the global stage. This is the 21st international award given to our PM, making him one of the most decorated leaders in India's history.Such honours not only acknowledge his leadership but also strengthen India's diplomatic standing worldwide,' posted Shah on X.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal also congratulated PM Modi, 'Another global recognition for Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi ji as Cyprus confers its highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III. This is a tribute to his dynamic leadership, relentless dedication to public service, and growing global role in forging greater international cooperation.'
The Order of Makarios III, the highest merit honour awarded in Cyprus, is named after Makarios III, the first president of the Republic of Cyprus. It is conferred upon heads of state and other people of significant status in recognition of meritorious service to the nation.
Prime Minister Modi expressed gratitude to President Christodoulides, the government and people of Cyprus for the honour.
'President, for the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III, I express heartfelt gratitude to you, the Government of Cyprus and the people of Cyprus. This honour is not just mine, it is the honour of 140 crore Indians. It is the honour of their capabilities and aspirations. It is the honour of our country's cultural brotherhood and the ideology of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. I dedicate this honour to the friendly relations between India and Cyprus and our shared values and mutual understanding. On behalf of all Indians, I accept this honour with utmost humility and gratitude,' PM Modi said.
He further said, 'This honour symbolises our unwavering commitment to peace, security, sovereignty, territorial integrity and prosperity of our people. I understand the significance of this honour and accept it as a responsibility towards the relations between India and Cyprus.'
He expressed confidence that the ties between two nations will touch new heights.He stated, 'I am confident that in the time to come, our active partnership will touch new heights. Together, we will not only strengthen the progress of our two nations but also contribute towards building a peaceful and secure global environment.'
Christodoulides welcomed PM Modi to the Presidential Palace in Nicosia earlier in the day. The Cypriot President and PM Modi introduced each other to the delegates from their respective countries.
PM Modi reached Cyprus on Sunday afternoon (local time), marking the first visit by an Indian PM to the island nation in over two decades. He was received by the Cypriot President at Larnaca International Airport.
He received a heartfelt welcome from the Indian diaspora in Limassol. Upon his arrival, PM Modi, along with Cyprus President Christodoulides, interacted with leading CEOs during the business roundtable.During the interaction, PM Modi spoke about India's reform trajectory in the last decade.
In a post on X, PM Modi said, 'Boosting business linkages! President Nikos Christodoulides and I interacted with leading CEOs to add vigour to commercial linkages between India and Cyprus. Sectors like innovation, energy, technology and more offer immense potential. I also talked about India's reform trajectory in the last decade.'
The Cyprus Presidency in a post on X said that Cyprus is deepening and expanding economic cooperation with India.
It said, 'Roundtable discussion with the Indian Prime Minister and members of the Cyprus and Indian business communities: Today, we are building more bridges; we are deepening and expanding economic cooperation between Cyprus and India. Together, we are entering a new era of strategic partnership, founded on trust and our shared values, driven by innovation and inspired by our rich historical journey and the vast horizon that opens before us. Together, Cyprus and India send a strong message of cooperation and prosperity, and at the same time, a message of hope.' (ANI)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
17 minutes ago
- Business Standard
PM Modi chairs top-level meet to discuss roadmap for next-gen reforms
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Piyush Goyal and Lalan Singh attended the meeting Press Trust of India New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting, which included top Union ministers, secretaries and economists, to deliberate on the roadmap for the next generation reforms, one of the key announcements he had made in his Independence Day address. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Piyush Goyal and Lalan Singh attended the meeting. Modi had on August 15 announced the formation of a task force for 'next-generation reforms' and revision of GST laws, as he devoted a major part of his 103-minute speech on making India self-reliant in a host of sectors ranging from semiconductors to fertilisers. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


NDTV
26 minutes ago
- NDTV
Shubhanshu Shukla Shows Pics Of Earth From Space During Meet With PM Modi
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla this evening, a day after the astronaut returned to India after his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS). PM Modi hosted Mr Shukla at the Prime Minister's residence in Delhi. PM Modi was seen welcoming Mr Shukla, who was wearing an ISRO astronaut's jacket, with a hug. He gifted the Axiom-4 mission patch to PM Modi and showed him pictures of the Earth taken from the International Space Station. He is the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). "India is proud of his feat," posted PM Modi on X after the meeting. Had a great interaction with Shubhanshu Shukla. We discussed a wide range of subjects including his experiences in space, progress in science & technology as well as India's ambitious Gaganyaan mission. India is proud of his feat. @gagan_shux — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 18, 2025 Mr Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission, which lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the ISS on June 26. He returned to Earth on July 15. During the 18-day mission, Mr Shukla, along with astronauts Peggy Whitson (US), Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), conducted more than 60 experiments and 20 outreach sessions aboard the ISS. On Saturday, he posted on Instagram a photo of himself sitting on a plane. "As I sit on the plane to come back to India, I have a mix of emotions running through my heart. I feel sad leaving a fantastic group of people behind who were my friends and family for the past one year during this mission. I am also excited about meeting all my friends, family and everyone in the country for the first time post mission. I guess this is what life is -- everything all at once," read his post. "Having received incredible love and support from everyone during and after the mission, I can't wait to come back to India to share my experiences with all of you. Goodbyes are hard, but we need to keep moving in life. As my commander Peggy Whitson fondly says, 'the only constant in spaceflight is change'. I believe that applies to life as well," he said. Recalling the song from the Bollywood movie ' Swades ' that was on his playlist just before he embarked on the Axiom-4 mission from the US, Mr Shukla said, "I guess at the end of the day -' Yun hi chala chal rahi - jeevan gaadi hai samay pahiya '".


India Today
42 minutes ago
- India Today
What India's credit ladder climb means and how to boost it further
On August 14, a short bulletin from S&P Global set the Indian markets abuzz. The credit rating agency had lifted India's sovereign rating from BBB- to BBB, ending an 18-year-long wait since the last such the crowded lexicon of financial jargon, this shift might sound incremental, but in the tightly codified world of sovereign credit, it is the difference between being barely in the club of investment-grade economies and having a slightly more comfortable seat at the developments happened as New Delhi is fiercely negotiating trade deals with Washington DC and Brussels, the Donald Trump administration has slapped 50 per cent additional tariffs, impacting Indian exports to the United States, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about unlocking the Swadeshi 2.0 version of economic credit rating improvement came as an applaud. The rupee strengthened, bond yields eased and a chorus of congratulatory statements rolled in from the finance ministry and industry bodies. In total, the S&P upgrade could unlock $30-50 billion (or more) of fresh capital into India's bond markets alone—both passive and active—within a 12-18 month window. Coupled with improved yields and investor sentiment, this could lower borrowing costs for both sovereign and corporate borrowers, deepen the bond market and reinforce India's credibility in global capital markets. Yet, behind the instant reactions lay a more interesting story—why now, and where next?S&P's decision was not the product of a single data point but a slow accumulation of signals over the past three years. One was the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) resolute defence of its inflation target. After the Covid pandemic years of price volatility and a bruising spell of food and fuel spikes, the central bank tightened policy and then resisted the temptation to cut which had looked stubbornly sticky, drifted back towards the midpoint of the 2-6 per cent range, averaging about 4.6 per cent in FY25, its most benign reading in six years. In S&P's language, this was 'anchoring expectations'—a phrase that may sound bland but carries enormous weight in the models that decide sovereign second signal was fiscal. Since 2021, the government has stuck to a publicly declared glide path to reduce its deficit, despite election cycles and expenditure pressures. The FY26 target of 4.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a credible marker of intent for a country emerging from the pandemic's fiscal deep importantly, the quality of spending has shifted. S&P took note that more public money is being channelled into infrastructure—roads, rail, ports and digital networks—rather than into ballooning subsidies. This is the sort of spending that rating analysts are willing to overlook in deficit arithmetic because it has the potential to boost productivity and expand the tax for all the optimism, BBB is only the bottom rung of investment grade. It signals moderate credit risk, a step above speculative territory, but still far from the As and AAs that bring the lowest borrowing costs and the broadest investor access. India is in the same bracket as Greece and just a notch below Italy and Portugal. To climb further, the country will have to turn these early wins into an unbroken agencies want to see the debt-to-GDP ratio, now hovering above 80 per cent, move decisively downward. They want inflation to stay boring, as central bankers say neither too high to invite panic nor too low to suggest stagnation. They want external buffers thick enough to weather oil price spikes, trade disruptions or sudden stops in capital means keeping foreign exchange reserves comfortably in the $680-700 billion range or higher, even as the RBI steps in to calm the currency during bouts of volatility. It means lifting exports of higher-value goods—electronics, pharmaceuticals, renewables supply chains—so that the current account deficit narrows without throttling domestic demand. It means deepening the corporate bond market so that infrastructure can be financed without leaning so heavily on state-owned banks and the sovereign more difficult reforms will play out away from the capital. State governments remain weak links in the sovereign story, with power distribution companies bleeding cash, tariff reforms stuck in political stalemate and capital expenditure often the first casualty of revenue stress. Since S&P assesses 'general government' debt and deficits—combining the Centre and the states—these subnational lapses drag the whole rating down. Cleaning up state-level finances, particularly in the electricity sector, would be a visible marker of structural balance-sheets, though healthier than a decade ago, still require vigilance. Non-performing assets are lower, but credit growth is heavily skewed towards retail loans, with investment credit lagging. A deeper, more liquid bond market could reduce the dependence on bank funding and provide alternative channels for long-term infrastructure finance. S&P and its peers are explicit: countries with diversified financial systems are more resilient and thus more India can deliver two or three consecutive years of meeting or beating its deficit targets, trimming the debt ratio, holding inflation steady and preserving reserves, another upgrade—to BBB+—by the latter half of the decade is realistic. That would make India more attractive to global pension and insurance funds bound by stricter investment mandates, lowering the cost of capital across the economy. The next leap, into the A category, is harder and will demand deeper reforms in land, labour, and logistics—areas where political economy often overwhelms economic now, the August upgrade is a reward for consistency. The Narendra Modi government has resisted populist temptations to derail the fiscal path, even in a politically charged environment. The RBI has kept its inflation target in sight and avoided sudden, credibility-sapping moves. Markets have taken note, foreign investors are circling back, and the agencies are acknowledging that India is less of a credit risk than it ratings are forward-looking. They are less a reward for what has been done than a bet on what will be sustained. The next few budgets, the next few inflation prints, the next set of reserve numbers—they will all feed into the decision on whether this August's announcement becomes the first in a chain of upgrades or a solitary uptick in a long symbolism of the date—a day before Independence Day—was not lost on the political establishment. Ministers spoke of global recognition of India's economic management, of validation for Viksit Bharat 2047, of a vote of confidence from the world's financial arbiters. In truth, the upgrade is neither a coronation nor a charity. It is a judgement grounded in data that India's macroeconomic fundamentals have improved enough to merit a slightly higher rating. It comes with the unspoken clause that this can be reversed if the fundamentals ratings are often dismissed as lagging indicators, and it's true that markets can sometimes price risk more quickly than agencies adjust their grades. But in the architecture of global capital, these grades matter. They determine the pool of potential investors in Indian debt, influence the cost of borrowing for both government and corporate issuers, and shape perceptions among multilateral lenders. They are, in effect, a passport stamp in the world's credit has just received a cleaner stamp than it had for nearly two decades. The immigration officer, so to speak, has waved it through into a slightly better lounge. But the premium seats are still ahead and the path to them is strewn with the unglamorous work of fiscal housekeeping, monetary discipline, export upgrading and institutional reform. If the country can stay that course, the next time S&P pronounces its creditworthiness, it might not just be an upgrade worth a headline—it could be a step into a new league to India Today Magazine- Ends