Economic reforms should be inclusive, broad based: Narendra Modi

New Delhi, Nov 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said economic reforms have to be inclusive and broad-based, aimed at improving the lives of people and not focused on just grabbing the headlines.

Addressing a gathering of economist at the 6th Delhi Economics Conclave, Modi said that efforts of the government to bring back black money stashed abroad have unearthed Rs 10,500 crore.

"India is doing better than when we took office 17 months ago. GDP growth is up and inflation is down. Foreign investment is up and CAD is down. Revenues are up and interest rates are down. The fiscal deficit is down and the rupee is stable.

Obviously this did not happen by accident... This success is a result of a series of well thought policies," he said.

Recalling various initiatives taken on the economic front, Modi said the government has endeavoured to pursue "inclusive and broad-based reforms" stressing it is a "marathon and not a sprint".

"My appeal to all of you is to think beyond conventional remedies. We should not limit our ideas of reforms to few standard notions. Our idea of reform should be inclusive and broad based.

The goal of reform is not better headlines in the pink papers but better lives for our people," he said while inaugurating the Conclave being attended by economists from India and abroad.

On measures being taken to check corruption, Modi said I-T department would introduce a system of online scrutiny of returns and modify the performance appraisal proforma of officials to motivate them to pass correct orders.

Observing that the government is taking several steps to serve the honest tax payers, he said that this year 91 per cent of electronic returns were processed within 90 days as compared to 46 per cent last year. Nearly 90 per cent of refunds were issued within 90 days.

PTI