Gowda Promises Budget Incentives For Investors

Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday gave clear indications that the Union budget for 1997-98, which is scheduled to be presented on February 28, will contain a more favourable message for investors and fresh investment.

Responding to a specific question on whether the governments budget would reflect the feedback received from foreign investors present at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Gowda said: In the forthcoming budget session, there will be some more favourable indications for investors.

The Prime Minister told journalists on the flight to Mauritius that he had not received any negative feedback from any foreign industrialist he met at the WEF annual meeting.

 

The second leg of his six-day tour began yesterday with a two-day visit to Mauritius, the shimmering emerald isle in the Indian Ocean.

Coming as it did with barely four weeks to before the presentation of the 1997-98 budget, the Prime Ministers statement reflected the governments resolve to unfold a more investor-friendly package of measures on February 28.

The Prime Minister had earlier maintained that while some reform measures had been taken during January, the remaining ones requiring legislative changes would be announced at the time of the budget.

He said his visit to Davos had a positive outcome. The governments message to the various leaders of countries, industry captains and academicians was that despite some problems, the Indian economy was growing at seven per cent, and that it remained committed to liberalisation and had emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment.

He reiterated that all the chief executives of leading multinationals like ABB, General Motors, Microsoft, General Electric and Intel Corporation appreciated the difficulties that the United Front government faced in speeding up changes in a few areas. But all of them were impressed with the initiatives taken in the short span of the present governments rule in sectors like power, highways, ports and the financial services.

Some of these companies were sending their senior executives to India to look at fresh opportunities for investment in India.At his meeting with the director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Renato Ruggiero, it was agreed that only a rule-based, transparent multi-lateral trading system allowing access to markets every where could open the door to economic growth of individual countries.

Gowda also met Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin.They agreed to expand bilateral ties in the economic and technical areas.