Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would deliver the keynote address at the two-day 12th Business Round Table with the Government of India on March 13 and 14. The central theme is 'How high will India fly.'
According a press note issued by organisers, the prime minister will talk about what are his government's priorities, how the government will encourage investment with emphasis on whether essential reforms are on the track. Singh will also explain how the economy will develop in the next ten years.
While the media would be allowed to cover the prime minister's speech, at the other sessions media persons are likely to be kept away.
John Micklethwait, editor in chief of The Economist, will leads the discussions. He will be assisted by Ravi Bhatia, Editor, Economist Intelligence Unit.
Expressing doubt over India achieving a 10 per cent economic growth rate in 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012), Bhatia said that India would grow at 8.5 per cent during the next three years.
Making a presentation on 'India 2010: What the future holds,' the UK-based magazine's Intelligence unit senior editor Ravi Bhatia said in the best case scenario, when services sector triggers the manufacturing, India would grow at 8.5 per cent during the next three years.
He further added there are only 30 per cent chance of India's dynamic service sector pushing the growth rate to 8.5 per cent on a sustained basis.
Oil crisis, fiscal problems, bad monsoon and infrastructure bottlenecks can pull down the GDP growth rate to below six per cent, he said, adding: "But there are only 15 per cent probability of India growing at that level."
In the middle case scenario, he said, India could grow at 7.5 per cent with macroeconomic stability, slow structural reform and service sector contributing to the growth process.
To achieve double digit growth rate, he said, India would need to invest heavily in infrastructure and remove other regulatory bottlenecks.
Bhatia was in India in connection with the 12th Business Round Table with the government to be held here on March 13 and 14.
"The Indian plane is flying high, but one plane is flying even higher and that is the Chinese plane. Indian economic world is growing because the term 'emerging markets' has become redundant. India, Japan and China have together overtaken the US economy. India and China are playing a big role. India ranks third after USA and China in the economic field. But this growth is held back by lack of infrastructure," Bhatia said.
The key speakers from the government will be Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, and Minister for Industry Kamal Nath, who has been pitching hard for setting up of special economic zones despite resistance from some political parties and farmers.
