The Indian government meets top industrials and economists to discuss how India can manage global economic turbulence.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Indian finance and business tycoons at the meeting titled "Recent Global Events: Opportunities for India" at his residence in New Delhi on Tuesday./ Photo: Official website of Prime Minister of India |
By Ha Man-joo, India correspondent, AsiaToday - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly asked businesses to increase their risk appetite and step up investments at a three-hour long meeting on Tuesday.
According to Indian local media outlets including Times of India (TI) and Business Standard (BS) on Wednesday, Modi said, "A lot of new investments could be made in soft infrastructure like affordable housing, hospitals as well as hard infrastructure like roads and highways."
In response, industry leaders wanted the government to cut interest rates and to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The meeting under the title, "Recent Global Events: Opportunities for India", was held for more than three hours to discuss how China crisis could serve as opportunities for economic development in India. The meeting was attended by 14 industrialists, including Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, and Aditya Birla Group head Kumar Mangalam Birla, 4 financiers including RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Yes Bank CEO and ASSOCHAM president Rana Kapoor, and 8 economists. PM Modi was along with 7 related industry ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitey.
Modi reportedly saw the current international economic situation as an opportunity to attract foreign capital coming out from China to India. The PM asked industry to take risks and step up investments before it's too late, saying India's improved macro-economic and fiscal indicators were a good backdrop for investments.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian stated, "India is in a relatively good place amid the current global economic turmoil." He added, "The base case for growth is now very clear."
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