The Hindu Business Line : India should target 10 pc GDP growth: PM

THE PRIME Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, flanked by Mr Y.C. Deveshwar (right), President CII, and Mr R. Seshasayee, Vice-President, CII, at the CII National Conference and Annual Session in the Capital on Tuesday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , April 18

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said on Tuesday that a growth rate of 8 per cent for the GDP was not only sustainable but the country could also "realistically hope to target a growth rate of 10 per cent per annum."

At the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Prime Minister said the Government would formulate policies for the manufacturing sector to attain at least 12 per cent annual growth.

He said the manufacturing sector holds the key to acceleration of employment generation and national income.

For strengthening the manufacturing sector, Dr Singh said he had constituted a high-level committee on manufacturing under his chairmanship.

"This committee will make recommendations and review the implementation of policies formulated under the National Manufacturing Initiative."

IT hardware panel

Dr Singh also said the Government had constituted a task force to focus on the growth of electronics and IT hardware manufacture.

Also, "to maintain the vibrancy of the telecom sector, we have set up a Group of Ministers to enable early vacation of spectrum by existing Government users. We hope to make this capacity available for commercial use in a time bound manner," he said.

He said he was aware of the need of labour market flexibility and would evolve a consensus to address the issue in the future.

With regard to infrastructure development, the Prime Minister expressed happiness over greater private participation through the build, operate, transfer (BOT) route in the national highway programme.

"We recently contracted three major BOT stretches of the National Highway Development Programme with large negative viability gap funding."

He added, "You are aware that we are working to build dedicated railway freight corridors. These, along with the initiative to allow private container trains, will transform the face of the Indian logistics."

Land reforms

For the growth of the farm sector, Dr Singh emphasised the need to promote land reforms. Land reform is a State subject but a national priority that requires national consensus, he said, adding that "redistribution of land and tenancy reform could improve the income and asset base for the rural poor. It could generate demand for rural housing and other infrastructure."

Competitiveness

In his welcome address, the CII President, Mr Y. C. Deveshwar, said CII's focus on sustainable competitiveness has become the basis for a variety of private-public partnerships in the country.

He said effective skills development, preservation of natural capital and private participation in rural economic development hyphenate CII's efforts to promote sustainable competitiveness.

In his address, the past President of CII, Mr Brijmohan Lall Munjal, said the Government needed to not only improve physical infrastructure but also price it appropriately.

The Vice-President of CII, Mr R. Seshasayee, in his concluding remarks, said the industry is increasingly focusing on innovation, development of new products and creation of intellectual properties.

He said that a task force set up under Mr J. J. Irani is developing the action points for education, skills development, employment generation and other social development issues.