At the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, organised by the government ostensibly to celebrate the country's connection with the 27-million-strong Indian diaspora living in 150 countries, Mr Ahluwalia said last Sunday that India was reaching out to NRIs not for their money, but because it valued the long, socio-cultural footprint all Indians living in India and abroad shared.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday strongly supported the view that petroleum prices in the country should "align with the global price."
He is, however, hopeful that impact of recent reforms initiatives will manifest in the data for the second half of the fiscal.
Pursuing good economic practices is not always easy politically, but anyone who thinks it is impossible may be 'damming the country', Planning Commission Deputy Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday.
Favouring labour reforms but without 'hire-and-fire' system, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said rigidities in labour laws were affecting the domestic job market.
The rupee will soon join the elite currencies like the US dollar, the euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.
The others who will be joining the commission as members are Narendra Jadhav, honorary vice-chancellor of Pune University and Mihir Shah, secretary of Samaj Pragati Sahayog. The government has also retained Abhijit Sen, Syeda Hameed and B K Chaturvedi as members in the reconstituted commission, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said.
Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, on Monday congratulated Montek Singh Ahluwalia on his appointment as Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission.
Eminent economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia was on Wednesday appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
He feels much of the problems arise at the level of state governments rather at the central government level.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia is likely to remain deputy chairman of the planning commission, which will be constituted shortly.
There are wide spread speculations in corridors of power in the Capital that Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia may take over as the next finance minister of India.
After kicking off the Budget exercise early this week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday had a brain-storming session with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the state of the economy.
The debate over remuneration of CEOs on Monday grew louder with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stating that company heads should not be paid 'indecent salaries'.
Questioning the methodology of CSO in computing economic growth projections, the Planning Commission today said it has ignored the rising growth trend while working out estimates for 2012-13.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia is the new deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Indian economy grew at a nine-year low rate of 5.3 per cent in January-March quarter in the last financial year and also in the last fiscal at 6.5 per cent.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who has just resigned, on Monday remained non-committal on his prospects of becoming finance minister while describing reports on this as "speculation".
The meetings with Singh and Ahluwalia have taken place just two days before the announcement of the results of the general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha. Besides Karnik, the other nominees on the Satyam board are HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former ICAI chairman T M Manoharan, CII chief mentor Tarun Das, LIC executive S B Mainak and former presiding officer of Securities and Appellate Tribunal C Achuthan.
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Thursday said he favoured new heads of the World Bank and the Fund to be from countries other than Europe and the United States.
Addressing the fourth India Investment Forum in New York, Montek Singh Ahluwalia highlighted the steps the government was taking to attract investments in the infrastructure sector, saying it is open to suggestions which they might have to offer.
Says tradability will ensure greater economic efficiency & higher revenues for the government.
With the inflation rate almost halving from the peak levels in August and economic growth slackening, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said there is further scope for the Reserve Bank of India to cut lending rates.
Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the government, has raised the FII investment limit in government securities by $5 billion to $20 billion.
Differing with International Monetary Fund's growth forecast of 4.9 per cent for India during 2012, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said it has a statistical problem.
The Reserve Bank of India announced measures late on Monday to curb the rupee's decline by tightening liquidity.
He was speaking to reporters along with Union Minister of State for Planning Ashwini Kumar on the sidelines of the Regional Consultation with five Eastern States on the Approach Paper to be finalised by the Planning Commission.
The country's economic growth hit a decade low of 5 per cent in the last fiscal on account of poor performance in the farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.
He said while bringing in investments, it is also necessary to manage the high current account deficit.
Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia strongly favours need for a special package and help for poor Bihar in place of special category state status repeatedly demanded by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Both sides have already agreed on restructuring of the schemes and curtailing the subsidy bill, Ahluwalia told reporters after the meeting.
In an interview to CFO Asia, a publication of The Economist Group, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the general public was opposed to privatisation of state-owned enterprises although they feel that public sector was inefficient and corrupt.
Yojana Bhawan is working overtime to complete the crucial Approach paper to the 12th Plan amidst a buzz that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia may get a Cabinet berth in the reshuffle expected soon.
His interaction was webcast live on Twitter.
Asked whether growth was responsible for rising prices, Ahluwalia replied, "I don't agree that whenever you have (high economic) growth then you have inflation."
Government sources in the PMO said Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other panel members will continue till the next Planning Commission is constituted by the prime minister. The apex panel plays a crucial role in the budgetary process. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to present the Budget in the first week of July. Though the recommendations of the Plan panel are not legally binding, the inputs are crucial in dealing with the planned expenditure by the government.
"If half a dozen other developing countries could do it, India can too. There are some things we need to do and if we do them right, there should be no doubt about achieving the projected growth rates," Ahluwalia said.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
