High inflation, low consumer demand may affect investments: Industry

High inflation and low consumer demand may affect the investments that are at the conceptual stage, industry leaders today told finance minister P Chidambaram in an interactive session called to review the industrial activity in the country.

However, Chidambaram assured industry representatives that the economy would continue to grow at 8-9 per cent despite pressures from high inflation and rising interest rates.

“The minister has assured us that this growth rate should be sustainable for the next few years,” Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President K V Kamath told reporters after an interaction with Chidambaram. According to CII, investments worth $700 billion would take place over the next three years. The key issues discussed in the meeting were consumer demand and investment bottlenecks.