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India needs $ 350 billion to develop infrastructure: Gujral

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral says the country needs more than $ 350 billion in the coming decade to develop infrastructure.

Inaugurating the Confederation of Indian Industry's partnership summit in Madras on Tuesday, Gujral dwelt on the need for foreign direct investment to rapidly develop the country's infrastructure. In the next five years, twice the level of investment, which came in the last 50 years, should arrive, the prime minister said.

Admitting that the liberalisation process has brought new problems, Gujral warned that India could ill-afford to ignore the challenges thrown by it.

Referring to India's slow pace of liberalisation as against the South-East Asian countries's rapid strides, he said, ''Yes, we are no tigers. We are elephants, treading cautiously, but we have proved that we can smell around.''

Referring to the presence of a large Italian business delegation in the summit led by Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Gujral said the two countries had signed a record number of 1,000 agreements since 1947.

''Like in India, small and medium enterprises form the backbone of the Italian economy and industry. I am sure our firms can arrive at tie-ups with them to modernise and upgrade our technology to become internationally competitive,'' he added.

Stating that the annual Indo-Italian trade has risen significantly in recent years to more than $ 2.5 billion, he said Italy was the fifth largest investor from the European Union with approved investments in India totalling $ 500 million.

UNI