PM to meet industry leaders ahead of G-20 summit

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hasnas convened a meeting of industry leaders tomorrow, possibly to discuss the impact of the global economic crisis on the Indian economy ahead of the G-20 summit in London next week.

Those invited for the meeting include Tata group head Ratan Tata, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Reliance-ADAG group chairman Anil Ambani, Wipro chairman Asim Premji, Bharat Forge's CMD Baba Kalyani and presidents of FICCI, CII and Assocham.

The corporate chiefs are expected to give inputs to Singh ahead of the summit of world's most influential developed and developing countries, to be held on 2 April .

The prime minister and his team would be leaving for the summit on 31 March.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the still-high cost of finance and inadequate liquidity, which th industry leaders say are critical issues. They feel the Indian economy faces the paradox of near-zero inflation but high interest rates.

They blame the high cost of borrowing to the high level of government borrowings which would be sucking out liquidity from the system.

The government is slated to borrow an additional Rs1,40,000 crore during the first half of next fiscal to fund its increasing expenditure.