India Inc hails PM's 'growth' speech

New Delhi (PTI): The industry on Wednesday welcomed the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making a case for speedy and decisive actions to achieve 8 per cent economic growth.

"Growth has slowed to 5 per cent, which is clearly disappointing. We are seeing temporary downturn, partly due to global factors. We can get back to 8 per cent growth rate," Singh said at the CII AGM, adding that government will take speedy and decisive action to push growth.

Welcoming the statement, Jindal Steel and Power Chairman Naveen Jindal said: "PM has addressed all areas of concern of the industrialists for the economy and he has also said that we shouldn't be pessimistic, we should be optimistic and if we do the right things, we can easily achieve higher growth rates."

"I think it will give the industry the confidence it needs to make investments," he added.A Reacting positively to the PM's statement, Chairman of Bajaj Group Rahul Bajaj said: "If the prime minister says certain things, you take it seriously. If you don't take that seriously, who would you take seriously? I think he has made a very positive statement.

"As the prime minister said, we had 8 per cent growth earlier although we had the same problems. We still have the same problems, then why should we be satisfied (with 5 per cent). That is the question we all have to answer," he added.

Mahindra & Mahindra President (Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors) Pawan Goenka said, Singh has almost spoken about everything that industry wants the government to address but the real challenge will be the execution and implementation.

Being an election year, there is some level of anxiety among the industry about 'some inaction' or 'some popular steps' which may not necessarily be good in the long run, he added.