We can get back to 8 per cent growth - PM
THE Prime Minister was addressing The CII National Conference and Annual General Meeting, in New Delhi yesterday. Some excerpts:
In my last address I chose to strike a contrarian note. At a time when everything seemed to be going exceptionally well, I struck a note of caution. I said that while we have achieved much, we also have a great deal more to do to create a growth process that is truly inclusive. I also said that while the visible growth and prosperity of Indian big business, including especially its presence abroad, was in many ways a projection of India's success, there was also need to reflect on the social responsibilities of business. I specifically mentioned the need for restraint in the matter of paying salaries and conspicuous consumption.
In 2007, I often heard it said that government had become irrelevant because India will grow at 9 percent whatever the government does. The consensus today is that unless the Government acts swiftly, our growth, which has already decelerated, will be perennially stuck at 5 percent.
If we go back to 15 years the average was also 7.5 per cent. This kind of dynamism doesn't disappear suddenly, and we must prove the prophets of gloom as wrong. We are seeing, I believe, a temporary downturn, which does happen. After all, business cycles have been a recurrent theme of all textbooks in economics in the past. I believe, we have seen a temporary downturn, which does happen from time to time. We must recognise it as such and take corrective action.
We cannot do much about the global slowdown. We can only wait for the world to get back to more normal conditions. In the meantime, we have to accept that our exports will be weak and our current account deficit in the Balance of Payments, higher than it should be. We have to learn to cope with these problems.
We can in my view get back to 8 per cent growth even as we try to make the longer-term changes in our system to deal with these problems. And what is more, we can achieve growth of an inclusive kind.