New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a high-level meeting on Tuesday with top leaders of industry and various business chambers, as well as senior finance ministry officials, to discuss the upheaval in the global economic scenario after China downgraded its currency in the face of a slowdown, and how this could possibly have a positive fallout on India.
The meeting, chaired by Modi, is being attended by finance minister Arun Jaitley (who returned Monday after his visit to Turkey for a G-20 meeting) and his top bureaucrats, while corporate bigwigs such as Reliance Industries boss Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, top bankers and economists will also be present, sources said.
Mr Jaitley had said last month that the slowdown in the Chinese economy will in fact turn out to be an advantage for India, and the thought within the government is that this development could be the opportune moment for propelling its “Make In India” campaign, as for fulfilling the needs of its demand-based economic growth, more global entities could get attracted towards India.
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya and economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das will be among those present at the meeting. Other significant invitees include Adani Group head Gautam Adani, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, as well as Mahindra Group CMD Anand Mahindra and Aditya Birla Group head Kumar Mangalam Birla, sources told this newspaper.
The early morning meeting is likely to start with brief individual presentations from all participants, and it may then deliberate on the possible opportunities the global economic scenario presents for India and how these can be used to the nation’s advantage. Meanwhile, issues like the government allowing lapsing of the Land Acquisition Ordinance and the impending GST Bill could also come up for discussion, sources added.
Earlier on Monday, the finance ministry reviewed the prevailing economic and fiscal situation and pending policy issues against the backdrop of the ongoing global financial woes. This was the first meeting of secretaries in the ministry after Ratan P. Watal took over as finance secretary last week. Chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian also attended the meeting. The top officials also discussed issues relating to better coordination among all departments of the ministry, especially in view of the budgetary exercise that has already started.
