Summit to chart roadmap for 8% growth in India

Saturday, 23 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: A three-day economic summit starting here Sunday will focus on charting a roadmap for achieving eight percent growth in India over the next few years. The India Economic Summit 2002, organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), will also focus on ways to expedite the reforms drive and improve physical and social infrastructure. The WEF and CII have been jointly organising the summit annually for the last 17 years to take stock of the progress and developments on the social and economic fronts in India. "All our discussions in the summit will focus on how India can achieve eight percent growth and how the business sector can help in achieving that target," said WEF director Colette Mathur. India's economy grew by a meagre four percent in the year ended March 31, 2001, compared to the 6.1-percent growth logged a year earlier. Foreign investment in India increased by 65 percent to $4.06 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March. The Indian government has an annual target of $10 billion for foreign direct investment, but has received only about $3 billion for the past few years. Over 400 business leaders from 25 countries will be participating in the India Economic Summit, along with a number of ministerial and senior government officials. Indian ministers who would address the summit include External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, IT and Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan, Tourism Minister Jagmohan and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Prominent among international leaders attending the summit are Frank Pallone, a U.S. Congressman from New Jersey, Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry George Yeo Yong Boon and British Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng. Business tycoons like Y.T. Lee, chairman of South Korea's Trigem Computer, Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto, N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies, and Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Ltd., will also participate in the summit.
Source: IANS