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| Growth target of 8% possible: PM |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Nov 21, 2008, 20:14 IST |
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 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured that industrialists that notwithstanding the global economic crisis India would be able to achieve a growth target of 8 per cent.
Speaking at the two-day Hindustan Times leadership summit, Singh said: "I give you my assurance that despite an adverse international environment, India has the ability and capacity to achieve about 8 per cent growth target."
He, however, said that amidst a deep global crisis we can not pretend that we are not effected. Looking back, Singh said his government had anticipated the slowdown and made provisions for coping with it in the last union budget.
He said the provisions for decent agriculture prices, social safety network like the national rural employment guarantee scheme and implementation of the pay commission report had been some of the farsighted moves of his government.
Holding out assurances, Singh said that his government would mobilize all instruments of policy be it fiscal policy, exchange rate, monetary policy or public investment policy to "see that shortage of demand is neutralized to the maximum".
He asked the industries to have confidence in the system and opt for working with the government in coping with the current situation. "No instrument would be spared to support the growth of enterprise,’’ he said.
The PM promised "liberal credits and bringing down the cost of credit" to help the small and medium enterprises (SME), exporters and labour intensive enterprises, which, he said, "often get neglected" during the policymaking.
Singh, however, said that government was worried that large scale layoffs should not become the order of the day in the industry. "I assure you that the government is committed to see that the ship of Indian industry is not left in the choppy waters but sails with dignity."
On the global financial crisis, Manmohan Singh said that recent G-20 summit in New York had paved way for larger role of India and other developing countries in the Global Financial Stability Forum.
The PM said that he was reluctant to attend the summit as all previous such meets had merely proved to be "breakfast and dinner-eating occasions". He, however, attended it after getting assurances of a meaningful meeting with the US President George Bush.
However, he said this time, at G-20, for the first time the developing nation’s voice was heard with respect.
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