Indian industry, which made a strong demand for "tougher laws" and "stronger and firmer leadership" to tackle terrorism, hailed P Chidambaram's appointment as the home minister, saying he can provide the right kind of leadership to tackle the menace.

Chidambaram replaces Shivraj Patil [Images], who quit as the home minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] has retained the finance portfolio. Chidambaram was earlier minister of state for internal security in Rajiv Gandhi's government.

"Chidambaram has done extremely well as finance minister and we are sure he will be equally successful in improving the internal security," said Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) secretary general D S Rawat.

President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations Ganesh K Gupta, who is "personally anguished" at the killing of "innocent people" in Mumbai attack, said Chidambaram would provide the right kind of leadership required to deal with internal security.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had actually voiced the demand for a "stronger and firmer leadership" to tackle the threat of terrorism, felt that the country did need a dynamic leadership.

India Inc has acknowledged Chidambaram's contribution in steering the economy to a high growth trajectory and coming out with right kind of policy responses to the challenges posed by the global crisis.