PM to inaugurate Assocham annual meet on Friday

Singh's presence can be seen as an attempt to woo the industry ahead of the general elections next year

In an effort to win the hearts of industry with elections around the corner, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on  Friday.

Singh’s presence can be seen as an attempt to woo industry as this would be the third chamber annual meet he would be inaugurating. In December 2012, he became a part of the 85th AGM of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, followed by the Confederation of Indian Industry in April. The event comes close on the heels of the country’s industrial production data showing a contraction of 1.6 per cent in May to an 11-month low. According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office, this was due to weak mining and manufacturing performance.

The Prime Minister had recently batted for sustained growth in the manufacturing sector in order to attain eight-nine per cent growth. Keeping this and the elections in mind, Assocham has kept its theme as “India Manifesto 2014”. Apart from Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray would be addressing the AGM.  “This would be a stage for political parties to come up with their manifesto. Our theme has five focus points - economic, livelihood, energy, ecological and national security. Industry would be able to know what the major political parties are thinking in these lines,” said D S Rawat, Assocham Secretary General.

According to Assocham, the other invitees for the event include Law Minister Kapil Sibal, External Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed ,Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

 

From the industry side, the apex body’s president Rajkumar Dhoot, president-elect and Managing Director & CEO of YES BANK Rana Kapoor, also former presidents like Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot, DLF chief KP Singh, JSW Steel chairman Sajjan Jindal and Piramal Enterprises’ Swati Piramal  are set to present in the AGM.