Vajpayee sets stiff growth targets

NEW DELHI, SEPT 18: Chairing the first meeting of the newly-created Council on Trade and Industry today, Prime Minister AB Vajpayee set a...

NEW DELHI, SEPT 18: Chairing the first meeting of the newly-created Council on Trade and Industry today, Prime Minister AB Vajpayee set ambitious growth targets and left it to his somewhat dumbstruck high-profile council to find ways to achieve this.

At a time when most expect the economy to grow by around five per cent, the PM asked for 7 per cent. With exports lucky to touch 5 per cent, the PM asked for a strategy which would enable a growth of 15 per cent to 20 per cent in dollar terms.

To find ways to meet the exacting demands of the country’s chief executive, the industrialists have split themselves into six groups, or task forces, to focus on what needs to be done for infrastructure, administrative/legal simplifications, revival of capital markets, and so on.

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Each group is to be chaired by luminaries such as Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, and RP Goenka. The groups are to interact with all ministries, and this will be facilitated through the PMO. Action plans are to be submittedwithin 30 days after which the Council will deliberate on the reports.

It would be recalled that, last month, the PM had formed two high-profile advisory committees — one of industrialists and the other of economists — to find solutions to the country’s economic woes and kickstart the economy. Both committees, widely believed to be the brainchild of NK Singh, secretary in the PMO, are to be monitored by the PMO.

Today’s meeting was attended by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Jaswant Singh, Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra. Industrialists present included Suresh Krishna, NR Narayanmurthy, Nusli Wadia, RP Goenka, PK Mittal, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Ratan Tata, AC Muthiah, Mukesh Ambani and Parvinder Singh.

Vajpayee said that the council was “about partnership and trust. About building bridges between industry and government.” He outlined the initiatives taken by his government like counter-guaranteesfor the power sector, a new national housing policy, tax-dispute resolution schemes and a credible export package. He said, however, a lot still remained to be done.

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He said the country should focus on a comprehensive strategy to deal with the debilitating impact of a global meltdown and to demonstrate that India has an attractive economic prospect for domestic and foreign investors.

Also, he said, measures should be adopted to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of Indian corporates to face the increasing challenges of globalisation.