PM to seek ideas to revive growth from India Inc at meet

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will explain the recent measures taken by his government on gold and oil imports. Faced with persisting economic gloom, Singh will brainstorm with industry leaders today on key problems relating to subdued growth, volatile exchange rate and widening current account deficit.

Sources say Singh will seek ideas from the industry to revive growth. The effort will be to get industry out of 'pessimism', the source added.

The meeting is likely to be attended by CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan, ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, and Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal besides several others.

The Prime Minister's meeting comes against the backdrop of decelerating industrial production and the liquidity tightening measures undertaken by RBI to arrest decline in rupee. RBI initiatives are likely to further choke growth.

CAD last fiscal was 4.8 percent and the government intends to bring it down to 4.2 per cent this financial year. The rupee slide is another concern for the government. Earlier this month it fell to all-time low of 61.21 against the US dollar.

Sources say the PM will discuss reviving investments in manufacturing. Singh will also discuss with captains of industry ways to accelerate skill development, besides development of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) and the Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC).

Singh recently said that although basic fundamentals are sound and stable, the growth rate in the current financial year is likely to be lower than 6.5 percent estimated at the time of presentation of the Budget in February.

The PM and India Inc meeting will be held at 6 pm today.

With inputs from PTI