7-point plan to rev up economy

NEW DELHI, Sept 18 (PTI) — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today unveiled a seven-point strategy to rev up the economy in the present "difficult and uncertain" global environment to achieve an annual growth rate of seven per cent with a modest inflation.

Chairing the first meeting of the newly constituted Trade and Industry Council, Mr Vajpayee said the strategy is to achieve an annual GDP growth rate of seven per cent for the next three years and eight per cent thereafter.

To achieve this, Mr Vajpayee asked the trade and industry to rekindle the "spirit of enterprise" to step up industrial growth to 10 per cent next year and 12 to 13 per cent subsequently and achieve an annual export growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent in dollar terms.

"This is a big agenda," he said adding that "we need to organise ourselves purposefully and gainfully" and jointly embark upon on a course of action.

The meeting was attended among others by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, who was summoned from Calcutta, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Mr Jaswant Singh, and the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Prabhat Kumar, also participated in the meeting as special invitees.

Besides the Prime Minister, the 12-member council comprises 10 leading industrialists from various parts of the country and the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Mr Brajesh Mishra.

Elaborating on the seven-point strategy, Mr Vajpayee told the Council that "there is no room for complacency. Not merely because we need to achieve much more, but also because the international environment is becoming increasingly difficult and uncertain."

The approach for this council was to adopt measures which would dispel lingering fears and fortify confidence and focus on a comprehensive strategy to deal with debilitating impact of global meltdown and demonstrate that "India has an attractive economic prospect for domestic and foreign investors."

He wanted the trade and industry to focus on measures which could enhance productivity and competitiveness of Indian corporates to face the increasing challenges of globalisation.

"The immediate concern is to get on to a higher growth path and impart a new momentum, which is possible by making substantial investments in the infrastructure sector, reviving capital markets and restructuring public enterprises for greater efficiency and productivity," he said adding that the disinvestment process should be taken up in a transparent manner.

He underlined the need to refresh the government’s communication strategy to fine-tune the policies and monitor them to ensure that benefits of development percolated to the grassroots.

Mr Vajpayee said knowledge should be fostered as industry, and this should be achieved through investing in skills, human resource development and improving the quality of life index as contained in the World Development Report.

Noting that Indian economy has inherent resilience and strength, he said India, China and Taiwan will be among the few countries to show positive growth in the Asian region in 1998-99.

"We have overcome the negative impact of sanctions," he said adding that success of Resurgent India Bonds, which mopped up $ 4.16 billion, was the demonstration of the faith which non-resident Indians have in the strength of our economy.

"Seen in this context of a depressed world market, marked by economic crises in South East Asia, Japan and Russia, a GDP growth rate of six per cent with single digit inflation, satisfactory agricultural output, stable reserves and signs of further industrial revival is by any reckoning no mean achievement," he said.

"But there is no room for complacency," he added.

Task forces
The Council decided to set up six task forces to prepare action plans within a month.

The six task forces to be constituted from among the 12 members of the Council would be on food and agro-industries management policy, infrastructure, capital markets and financial sector initiatives, knowledge-based industries service industries and administrative and legal simplifications.

An official press release said the task forces would interact with ministries concerned and finalise their action plans for consideration by the council in subsequent deliberations.