The chairman and CEO of Dow Chemicals Andrew Liveris will not attend the Indo-US CEO Business Forum meeting scheduled to be held in Washington.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leading a high-powered team of policymakers, including Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the India-US CEOs Forum.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will also participate in the India-US Business CEOs Forum Meeting.
He said while bringing in investments, it is also necessary to manage the high current account deficit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month had said inflation would moderate to 5-6 per cent by the end of the calender year.
Ahluwalia said India is also interested in stepping up cooperation with China on railways development.
The Planning Commission has pitched for linking of domestic fuel prices with those in the international market saying it is necessary for country's global "economic reputation".
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday expressed concerns over rising crude prices which soared to two-year high of $ 102 a barrel in Asian markets.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN channel's Devil's Advocate programme, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia explains why he faults the controversial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 2G telecom spectrum allocation. Edited excerpts:
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.
"Yes it is true that milk and vegetable prices are high. You know some of this is a reflection of economic prosperity and purchasing power," Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key short-term rates by 25 basis points to cool inflation and many experts believe that it will make money dearer to tame inflation in its April 20 annual monetary policy announcement.
Montek also said he did not consider the fall of about two per cent or so in Asian markets, including India this morning, as severe.
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday objections to the disinvestment progammes of the government can be sorted out through discussions. Although the government has expressed its commitment to offload equity in state-owned companies while retaining 51 per cent share, the supporting Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had raised objections to it.
Replying to a question related to the possibility of additional fiscal stimulus measures in the forthcoming Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We have started some discussion with the finance ministry. This is related to what should be an appropriate size for planned expenditure for 2009-10." In the interim Budget announced in February this year, the planned expenditure for 2009-10 was budgeted at Rs 2,85,149 crore.
Besides Parikh, Singh sent letters of appreciation to V L Chopra, B Mungekar and Anwarul Hoda indicating that they may not find a place in the reconstituted body.
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.
The plan panel on Thursday termed the housing finance racket, involving the chief of LIC Housing Finance and several other officials of PSU banks, as a "very small" incident as far as banking system as a whole was concerned.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, had stood at 7.47 per cent in December 2011.
Power distribution companies in the country are estimated to have incurred a staggering loss of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in the last fiscal and the amount is expected to be as much as Rs 1,16,000 crore (Rs 1,160 billion) by 2014-15.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is among 19 members chosen by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing tasked with mobilising funds pledged during the Copenhagen meet to tackle global warming.
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.
"Attempts should be made to curtail growth of subsidies to achieve nine per cent growth. We are trying to achieve nine per cent growth. Though there are major challenges like global slowdown, we will achieve the target," Singh said.
The government last month revised the growth forecast for the current fiscal downward to 7.5 per cent on domestic concerns like high inflation and slowing industrial output, besides a global slowdown.
The action came after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the home ministry in 2020.
Current account deficit, which represents flow of money out of the country barring capital movements, stood at $4.5 billion in the first quarter of previous financial year.
The data further revealed that GDP growth rate was 9.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2009-10 and 8.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2010-11.
According to the IMF sources, the 27-member European Union bloc had asked the Chinese for support for Lagarde.
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
The Plan panel on Wednesday said it has appointed civil rights activist Binayak Sen, convicted for sedition, on the board of one of its steering committees to give input for 12th Plan (2012-17) on health related issues.
Besides undertaking the routine work, Ahluwalia entrusted the task of revamping the Commission to new member Arun Maira, formerly with the Boston Consultancy Group. "We cannot work is silos. We need better lateral inputs," Ahluwalia had said at a recent internal meeting of the commission.
The process of preparing approach paper to the 12th Plan has already been started and the panel wants that besides its experts and committees on different areas, the general people particularly youngsters share their views about how should the country should go about the next Five-Year Plan.
"In China's 12th Plan, exports do not hold the same place. Besides, the Chinese will be vacating the lower end of value spectrum like textiles and leather...So who will replace them? Are we going to step in or will it be Vietnam or Turkey or Indonesia," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Conceding that the fiscal deficit could exceed the targeted 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 by up to one percentage point, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said such a situation need not be a matter of concern.
Government and the Planning Commission had earlier projected a growth rate of 9 per cent during 2011-12, up from 8.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
In September, industrial growth fell to just 1.9 per cent, its lowest in two years. Inflation is at 9.73 per cent, its 10th month above nine per cent.
Against the all-state average of Rs 3,049 per capita development expenditure, Bihar registered Rs 1,446 during 2005-06. Similarly agaisnt all-state average of Rs 3,826 and Rs 4,208, Bihar recorded per capita development expenditure of Rs 2,123 and Rs 2,184 during 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
Each ministry has got their mantra: build and improve infrastructure. So, each ministry is doing it.
Even as the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme continues to face problems at the implementation level, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, ignoring suggestions by Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other economists, has refused to bring any major change in the scheme.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances