Take risks, invest more, PM tells Indian business

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked industry to take risks and step up investments especially in job-creating sectors as his government looks to revitalise the economy by boosting spending and attracting global capital with improved ease of doing business.

At a meeting of industry and business leaders, bankers and economists called by the Prime Minister in Delhi to discuss how to convert the global turmoil into an opportunity, industry chamber Assocham, however, continued to harp on the need for a deep cut in interest rates and new duties to stop dumping of Chinese products such as steel.

''While the government has a role to play, industry also has a role to play in demand creation for investments," the prime minister said after a meeting with top industrialists, financiers and bankers.

The prime minister stressed on low-cost manufacturing and felt the strength of economy lies in its huge human resource potential and a domestic market that is not entirely export dependent.

The participants at the three-hour long meeting analysed the recent global events, their impact on India and the opportunities inbuilt in the situation for India, finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the interaction.

He said the participants, 27 of whom spoke, felt the global situation, especially the volatility in the capital and currency markets, is a transient phase and that steps should be taken to strengthen the real economy.

He also laid emphasis on small and medium enterprises and using MNERGA funds as a possible tool for skill development and using Mundra Bank for supporting the unorganised sector.

Jaitley said transparency in governance will lead to early decisions.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group head Cyrus P Mistry, Aditya Birla Group head Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises and ITC chief Y C Deveshwar were among the industry leaders who attended the meeting.

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, ICICI Bank chief executive Chanda Kochhar and State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya and economists like Subir Gokaran and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian as well as Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagriya were also present.