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PM targets 10% growth in 3 years

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November 29, 2005 19:02 IST

Setting the bar high for 10 per cent growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday promised to explore FDI in retail, sort out problems in power sector and work for a flexible labour market.

"We will try for a consensus in making labour markets more flexible," he said adding he would explore how to harness FDI in retail to suit the country's needs.

At the India Economic Summit, Singh said India was likely to average 7.5 per cent growth in the next four years but "we should be targeting 10 per cent growth in 2-3 years."

"In my view, this is eminently feasible...if we manage a quantum leap in growth rate of agriculture, if investment in infrastructure provides a fresh impetus to industry and if services continue with their impressive performance," he said.

Asserting that the country's infrastructure has reached a "take-off" point, Singh said, "All the elements of an essential institutional framework are now falling in place. If the private sector seizes the initiative, the sky is the limit."

Singling out power sector, he said it continued to be plagued with complex problems but "we are determined that we will set many things right in the coming year. I am personally holding consultations to improve the situation here."

The Prime Minister also foresaw emergence of a free trade area in Asia in next few years covering China, Japan, South Korea and possibly Australia and New Zealand.

"This pan-Asian FTA could be the third pole of the world economy after European Union and NAFTA and will open up new growth avenues for the economy," he said.

Promising to move towards a single integrated farm market, Singh said an integrated food law, transferable warehouse receipts, an advance forward market in commodities along with amendments to Essential Commodities Act were needed.

"We should work towards liberating agriculture from controls that shackle its potential. We have nudged many states into amending the APMC Acts.

"We may see India emerging as the granary of the world. The private sector must not miss out on this opportunity and must ride the boom that I see on the horizon," he said.

Asserting that the FDI regime was liberal, he said a group of ministers were examining ways of further rationalising the current FDI regime to cut red tape.

Barring the financial, retailing and coal mining sectors, India was extremely liberal in welcoming FDI, he said, adding in retail, "We are engaged in an intellectually stimulating exercise to understand the possibilities that exist in opening up this sector and how best we can harness it for our needs."

"Our ability to create bureaucratic hurdles in the way of enterprise amazes me. I think as far as FDI is concerned, it is not policy but badly designed procedures and poor infrastructure which are a constraint," he said.

Pressing on the need to create 10 million jobs every year, the Prime Minister said: "We have to create employment opportunities in infrastructure, manufacturing, trade and transport."

"These jobs will be created only if we make it attractive for investors to invest in labour-absorbing technologies and labour-using sectors. We will try for a consensus on making labour markets more flexible while having credible social safety nets," Singh said.

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