New Delhi, May 28: On a mission to woo Japanese investors, Dr. Manmohan Singh told leading business leaders at the Keidanren the premier chamber of commerce and industry in Japan that he was hopeful of a 6% growth in the current financial year, while expecting the growth to touch 8% if the fundamentals of economy remained stable. He termed the 5% growth last year a temporary setback. On Tuesday, Dr Singh said the government is committed to taking hard decisions in long term interest of the economy to strive toard high growth.
Dr. Singh said while talking about economic reforms, “Our people have tasted the benefits of rapid growth and they will not settle for less. I want to assure you that our government is committed to taking hard and difficult decisions in the long-term interest of our economy.”
He said, “We have introduced further reforms in the financial markets. The Central Bank has indicated that it will start the process of expanding grant of new bank licenses.”
Dr. Singh said India and the world have a strong economic and strategic interest in Japan’s success as Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sets out on reviving his country’s economy,
Dr. Manmohan Singh also sought more Japanese investment and technical collaboration in skill development as well as in the energy sector.
The PM said India is wiling to co-finance a joint feasibility study for the high-speed railway route between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. But Singh was also guided by caution about the very capital-intensive project.
PM said, “We are willing for Japan and India to co-finance a joint feasibility study on this. This is an ambitious project and we will need to take a holistic view, based on our infrastructure needs, commercial viability, overall national priorities and the availability of financial resources.”
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