PM stays firm,calls for ‘some risks,courage’

In his opening remarks at the full Planning Commission meeting for approving the Twelfth Plan document,Singh said his immediate priority was to “orchestrate a rebound in the economy” during the second half of the current year and then try to accelerate growth to around 9 per cent by the end of the Plan period. “This will yield a target growth rate of around 8.2 per cent over the Twelfth Plan,” he said.

Outlining the three distinct economic scenarios mentioned in the Plan — “strong inclusive growth”,“insufficient action” and “policy logjam”,as reported by The Indian Express on September 12 — Singh said “the most important area for immediate action is to speed up the pace of implementation of infrastructure projects”,where the country needs an investment of nearly one trillion dollars during the five-year period.

“I believe that we can make Scenario I (strong inclusive growth) possible. It will take courage and some risks but it should be our endeavour to ensure that it materialises. The country deserves no less,” he said.

In major reforms,the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on Thursday decided to hike diesel prices and put a cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders while on Friday,the Cabinet and the CCEA cleared FDI in multi-brand retail and aviation sectors and disinvestment in four PSUs.

Referring to the high fiscal deficit levels and the need to bring it down,Singh said the Twelfth Plan projects a current account deficit of 2.9 per cent of GDP. “This must be financed mainly through foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign institutional investment (FII) flows so that reliance on external debt is limited. I believe we can attract the financing we need provided our fiscal deficit is seen to be coming under control and the growth momentum is regained,” he said.

The PM said the central message of the Plan is that the objectives can be achieved provided policies that will take care of weaknesses are put in place.

Speaking immediately after Singh,Finance Minister P Chidambaram proposed the setting-up of a National Investment Board (NIB) under the PM to accord speedy clearances to mega proposals.

“The NIB’s authority should extend to proposals/ projects where the investment is above a certain threshold,say,Rs 1,000 crore. Once the final decision is taken by the NIB,no other ministry or department or authority should be able to interfere with that decision or delay its implementation,” he said.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia termed the average growth target of 8.2 per cent for the Twelfth Plan period as realistic and achievable. The target for the Twelfth Plan is lower than the 9 per cent originally projected,but some downward revision has been justified by the panel as being “realistic given the state of the world”,he said.