Arun Jaitley launches 2-day 'India Economic Convention'(Update)

Talking about India's growth architecture that focuses on beefing up rural infra, irrigation and reforms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the direction of the government's economic transformation programme with the 'India Economic Convention 2015' today.

Addressing the global and Indian CEOs at the economic convention, Jaitley said the country's electorate gave a massive mandate for governance to a single party in the last general elections and this had made the Prime Minister's Office the final arbiter in decision-making. Talking about the policy paralyses being witnessed during the past decade, he said that due to marginalisation of the PMO, decision-making lays with those outside the government.

The Finance Minister said that the present government is totally clear on the direction that economic governance of the country needs to get through. "We have sought to restructure the model of governance which takes the burden of employment off a fragile agriculture sector; one that forces the pace of development of the services and urban sector and builds a vibrant manufacturing sector, he added.

Talking about the factors that the Government has to take into consideration for a better economy, he said that as big as the company is, we have low incremental absorptive capacities, the architecture for growth has to be built around infusing public and foreign investment so that adequate funds could be diverted to kick start new small ventures that will create more employment for the growing army of job seekers.

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance in his address spoke about the growth model adopted by the government and how it has been different from that of the past. Adding to it he said, "Our government wants to build India's productive capacity to achieve and sustain an 8-10 percent growth."

He said that the present government is a pro-poor, pro-market government. It believes in empowering cooperative federalism with a commitment to minimum government, maximum governance.

The Economic Convention also chaired Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises and ICC First Vice Chairman in the discussion panel, speaking about the same, he said that "Indian and global investors need to cash in on the opportunities that have opened up through the launch of programmes such as Make in India, Digital India, Skill India and Swachch Bharat Mission".

He said that India had emerged virtually unscathed from the global economic turbulence with an expected growth rate of 7.2 percent, going up to 7.5 percent in the not too distant future. It was made possible only because of India's large market and population of over 1.2 billion people.

Binod Bawri, Director, India Foundation was also present in the panel to give an overview of the Foundation's activities in addressing the challenges to make a lasting impact on society.