India PM discusses economy with industry leaders
July 30, 2013, 4:55 am

Industry leaders stressed on the need for ‘quick and bold’ decisions [PMOI]

Dr Singh discussed key problems relating to the current rupee fall and India’s widening current account deficit.

Earlier this month the rupee fell to all-time low of 61.21 against the US dollar.

Singh has stated he would push for more reforms in a meeting of the PM’s Council on Trade and Industry.

“The overall sentiment was to convert decisions to action and take back the country to a growth path of eight per cent or more”, a PMO statement said.

“The prime minister wanted a report to be submitted within one month on what can be done in the next 2-3 months.”.

The meeting was attended by industry leaders like CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani, ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, and Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal besides several others.

Reliance Industries chief Ambani said the industry believes in India growth story, a sentiment echoed by Bharti Group chief Sunil Mittal, who also wanted the government to take “brave and bold” decisions.

“We have given suggestion in two categories, one for near term and one for longer run. For near term, we have suggested clearing of large projects and those projects which were cleared should now be executed,” Ficci President and HSBC India head Naina Lal Kidwai said after the meeting.

Earlier in the morning on Monday, Indian Finance Minister Chidambaram said he does not foresee hikes in bank lending rates.

“I do not expect RBI’s liquidity measures to result in a hike in bank lending rates,” the finance minister said.

Source: Agencies