PM to meet industry leaders to discuss revival of growth

New Delhi, July 8: With economic growth remaining sluggish and rupee depreciating, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have an interaction with the captains of industry later this month to discuss ways to boost industrial output and contain current account deficit (CAD).

Singh will meet the leaders of the industry on July 29 to review the state of economy and work out steps to push growth.

The discussions will cover measures to correct CAD and revive industrial growth, a PMO statement said here today.

The issue of depreciation of the rupee and its impact on trade and industry will also be discussed.

The meeting assumes significance as the government has been concerned over the sluggish growth, high CAD and depreciating rupee.

CAD last fiscal was 4.8 per cent and government intends to bring it down to 4.2 per cent this financial year. The slide in the value of rupee is another concern in the government.

The rupee today fell to an all-time low of 61.19 against dollar. Singh will also discuss with the captains of the industry ways to accelerate skill development, besides development of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) and Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC).

Singh will meet the leaders of the industry a month after setting an investment target of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in PPP (public private partnership) projects across infrastructure sectors in rail, port and power in the next six months to pep up the investor.

PTI