Dr Manmohan Singh PM of India said that the Government’s resolve to achieve the economy’s trend growth rate of 8% to 9% by accelerating the reforms process through the introduction of Direct Tax Code and Goods & Services Tax and a transparent land acquisition regime.
Inaugurating the 85th Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he said that “The Cabinet has approved the constitution of a Cabinet Committee on Investment. This would help in the issue of clearances for major projects in a time bound manner. We will speed up the disinvestment process which will also revive our equity markets.”
Dr Singh said that the Government was bringing greater clarity into the FDI policy in the pharma sector. The Railways were working on a Rail Tariff Authority which will make fare setting a more rational exercise. We have already put in place a package for reviving Discoms contingent on better performance. The Direct Tax Code and the Goods and Services Tax Bills are high on our priority and the Land Acquisition Bill recently approved by our Cabinet should soon usher in a more fair and transparent regime for land acquisition.
He said that the corporate sector to own up its responsibility in supporting affirmative action designed to provide employment opportunities for the under privileged sections, persons with disabilities and women. The private sector should also play a more active role in the areas of Research and Development, education and skill development, health and rural development.
He added that his disquiet at the level of social and regional inequalities that continue to exist in our country. Disparities in income and wealth cannot be eliminated overnight or in the short run. But, disparities of the kind we have in India, even in terms of access to basic facilities such as health, education, safe drinking water, electricity, rural infrastructure and even banking, is something that the nation can ill afford. The inflation rates in the last 2 years have also increased to unacceptably high levels and need to be brought down to no more than 5% to 6% per annum.
He said that the years of high growth enabled us to generate resources that have been deployed to improve the well being of the people. But we need to do more to eradicate poverty, ignorance and disease from this blessed land of ours. We need to have a growth process which is socially and regionally far more inclusive than what we have today. That is also essential for the long term stability of our polity and our society.
He added that “Broadening the social base of development not only improves well being but also widens the home market for business. Thus, equitable growth can by itself generate more growth. A more educated and healthier workforce is more productive. Better rural infrastructure integrates rural economy far more effectively into the larger national economy. A healthy agricultural economy facilitates faster growth of industry. A more prosperous and better connected populace is a source of larger demand and markets for goods and services. This is why our government has committed large resources to social and human capital development in education, in health care, in rural development, in housing and in rural infrastructure. It is our endeavor to ensure that all marginalized groups and regions join the dynamic growth processes in the mainstream economy.
He further added that “Even as we make our growth process more inclusive, we cannot lower our guard in pursuing policies that restore growth momentum to the economy. This task has become more onerous because the global environment for growth has become less supportive. Between 2003 and 2008, the years of 9.0% growth, the Indian economy benefitted from a more benign global environment. Since 2009 this environment has become more challenging. As a result and also because of some domestic constraints, economic growth rates have come down to a range of 5.5% to 6.0%. Our export growth has declined and the fiscal and current account deficits have gone up.”