“ We will sit, discuss and negotiate…. We will reach out to all political parties, especially the principal Opposition party, to get the reform Bills passed .”

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram

“ It’s not yet a lost decade, but it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape… When a country is doing poorly, others have to be willing to help in various ways, not only out of solidarity, but because trouble in one country may well spill over to theirs .”

IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard

“ To sustain 2.3 per cent CAD over the medium-term, we would need net capital inflows of at least $50-70 billion annually over the next five years. Given the uncertainty around both the push factors (rising global risk aversion) as well as pull factors (slow growth here) that determine capital inflows, attracting such a magnitude of inflows could very well be an uphill task .”

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan

“ Asia is going to be the engine of economic growth and countries in Asia will remain in their own way important participants in that growth .”

Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath

“ It has been brought to our attention that the companies had used our local brinjal varieties to develop Bt brinjal. As per the Act, it is a criminal case and a cognizable offence .”

National Biodiversity Authority Chairman P. Balakrishna, on plans to file bio-piracy criminal case against US biotech giant Monsanto and Indian partner Mahyco

“ There is a clear story beyond cost arbitrage. The industry has made significant commitments to the innovation economy of the US by setting up dedicated centres .”

Infotech Enterprises CMD B. V. R. Mohan Reddy, on Indian IT and ITeS industry’s growing linkages with the US.

“ We are excited to expand our offerings to include investment opportunities into India, while building on our existing presence in the sub-continent. The experience we have had over the years in the Middle Eastern as well as western financial markets stands us in good stead to work with Religare to introduce market leading technology platforms and investment opportunities to Indian customers .”

Mubasher CEO Malek Kanawati, on tie-up with Religare

“ There are grievances of students not getting loans or encountering problems while getting loans... The government is now working on a guarantee scheme… It is yet to be launched. Hopefully it would come and resolve some of these issues .”

Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao

“ This is a very good reason for policy makers and industry to take the lead and prepare a roadmap. The accelerated growth of this sector should be a priority, given the talent pool and current untapped demand within the country .”

President Pranab Mukherjee, on the need for chemical sector to spend more on R&D.

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