India needs $150 B investment in infrastructure: PM
By agencies   |   Friday, 05 August 2005, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the country needs $150 billion of overseas investment in roads, ports and other infrastructure in the next eight years to accelerate economic growth. ``Our domestic savings rate is respectable but we need international help,'' Singh told the upper house of parliament in New Delhi today. Enhancing infrastructure will boost economic growth 8 percent to 10 percent annually to improve the lot of the 350 million Indians who live on less than $1 a day, Singh said. The economy grew 6.9 percent in the last fiscal year ended March 31. India ``will have to rely on nuclear energy'' to accelerate economic growth, Singh said, responding to criticism from opposition lawmakers about the agreement between him and U.S. President George W. Bush on civilian nuclear energy cooperation. Bush on July 19 promised to help India gain access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel as part of a new partnership with the South Asian country. Singh on his part pledged India would not illicitly sell nuclear technology. The India-U.S. agreement is subject to approval by the U.S. Congress and would remove a ban on sharing nuclear power technology with countries such as India that have resisted international oversight of nuclear development. Bush promised to work with U.S. allies to win their cooperation as well. The accord will not compromise Indian sovereignty, Singh said. ``The arrangement is in our national interest,'' Singh said. ``It will bring about a burst of creativity, a second industrial revolution based on high technology.''

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