Prime minister Manmohan Singh will head an apex group of top policy makers that will deal with the impact of the global financial crisis on Indian industry and coordinate the government's response to issues raised by industry from time to time.

The special panel will have the finance minister P Chidambaram, industry and commerce minister Kamal Nath, deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Reserve Bank governor D Subbarao as members.

The group will meet regularly to coordinate/decide the government's response to the current global financial crisis and its impact on India.

The prime minister also approved a committee of officers chaired by the finance secretary that will meet on a daily basis or as often as required to consider issues raised by industry.

The committee will have the commerce secretary, secretary of DIPP and secretary of the planning commission as members.

The joint secretary (banking) finance ministry will be the government contact person to receive suggestions form industry.

The prime minister had, yesterday, met the captains of Indian industry and called upon them to join in with the government to convert the current global crisis into an opportunity for India.

He had also outlined the measures being taken by the government to prevent Indian economy from facing the adverse affects of the global financial crisis.

''We are meeting at a time when the world economy is going through an unprecedented crisis which started in the financial sector in the US but has now spread globally. The financial crisis has exacerbated a global downturn that was expected earlier but is now likely to be more severe and prolonged. A crisis of this magnitude was bound to affect our economy and it has. International credit has shrunk with adverse effects on our corporates and our banks. Global uncertainty is also tending to dampen investor sentiment. All countries have recognised the severity of the problem and its likely fallout, and are taking strong steps in a coordinated fashion. We have done the same and I wanted to share with you the approach we shall follow,'' he told the gathering.

While the country's financial system will be stable and function well, he said the government was concerned that the negative impact of the global crisis on India's real economy must be minimised.

''We are able to act more boldly because our efforts to contain inflation have begun to be effective,' he said.

He said the government was closely monitoring the evolving macro economic situation and is fully alive to its responsibilities to sustain the growth momentum of the economy at a reasonable level.