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The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, will meet top honchos of Corporate India on Monday to discuss policy steps that may be required to give a boost and a sense of direction to the faltering economy.
Sluggish industrial growth and increase in interest rates due to the RBI policy rate action are among the issues that are on the table for the meeting, official sources said.
Chief executives and heads of top industrial houses have been invited for the meeting. “ Some 15-20 top industrial leaders are expected,” a Finance Ministry official said.
Their inputs are being sought to devise a right course of action for stepping up growth momentum and to improve private investments in the economy. Indications are that the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, will also be present at the meeting.
The Government's efforts in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) may also be discussed. India has fallen to the 14th position in the recent UNCTAD ranking of top 20 FDI recipients for 2010.
Among those invited for Monday's meeting are Tata Group Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani, and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) Chairman, Mr Anil Ambani.
Bharti Airtel Group Chairman, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Godrej Group Chairman, Mr Adi Godrej, and heads of the GVK and GMR groups are also likely to be present at the meeting.
Growth prospects
Spiralling inflation and high interest rates have cast a shadow on economic growth prospects for the current fiscal.
The Government had, in February, forecast GDP growth of 9 +/- 0.25 per cent for 2011-12.
However, the Finance Ministry had recently indicated that economic growth may hover around 8.6 per cent.
The formal downward adjustment of economic growth projection may happen when the mid-year review of the economy is tabled in Parliament. The Finance Minister had recently hinted that further tightening of policy rates by the RBI may lower economic growth.
He also made it clear that the RBI's recent 50 basis point hike in policy rate did not signal the end of the interest rate tightening cycle.
The RBI has, since March 2010, hiked policy rates 11 times, including the latest 50 basis point hike on July 27, to tame inflation. However, wholesale price index-based inflation continues to be stubbornly high at near 9 per cent.
There has been some disappointment on the industrial growth front in recent months. Industrial output growth dipped to a nine-month low of 5.6 per cent in May, mainly due to poor show by the manufacturing and mining sectors.
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