Indian premier pushes for faster economic reforms

Nov 8, 2009, 8:24 GMT

New Delhi - India had weathered the global economic crisis better than most countries and would push financial sector and other reforms to regain a 9 per cent rate of growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Sunday.

Delivering the opening address at the World Economic Forum's India summit, Singh said financial sector reforms were crucial to provide funds needed for development.

His government planned steady progress in reforms to make the financial sector more competitive while ensuring an efficient and regulatory system, Singh added.

Some of the reforms, specially in the insurance and pension sub-sectors, would require legislative changes.

'We have taken initiatives in this area and will strive to build political consensus needed for these legislative actions to be completed,' Singh said.

The prime minister said the pace of disinvestment in state-owned undertakings would be hastened and steps would be taken to make India a more attractive destination for foreign direct investment.

India had weathered the global economic crisis better than most countries and was expected to post gross domestic product growth of 6.5 per cent in the current financial year, Singh said.

'There are clearly signs of an upturn in the economy. With a normal monsoon next year, we hope to achieve a growth rate of over 7 per cent,' he said.

The Indian government had resorted to various stimulus packages and corrective actions to meet the economic crisis. 'We will take appropriate action next year to wind this down,' Singh said.

'The worst is behind us though the path to global recovery will be long and uncertain,' Singh told the gathering of top business leaders from across world.