Industry asks for fiscal package to boost growth

Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 23:49 IST
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New Delhi: A leading industry lobby Wednesday asked the government for a bigger fiscal package to revive various sectors of the economy. "We have urged the government to create a growth package for various sectors that have been affected due to the slowdown," Harsh Pati Singhania, senior vice-president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) told reporters after a meeting with senior government officials. "We need big investment push and we have suggested this to the government," Singhania, who is also the managing director of JK Papers, added. A nine-member Ficci delegation made the suggestion during a meeting with top bureaucrats who included Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar, Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan, Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai, and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ajay Shankar. Besides Singhania, the Ficci delegation included DLF Group chairman K.P. Singh, Steel Authority of India chairman S.K. Roongta, and Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry deputy chairman Shishir Jaipuria. Among the suggestions that it made, Ficci asked for providing adequate credit to prop up the housing and auto sectors, apart from special package for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, leather, footwear, handicrafts and gems and jewellery.
Source: IANS