Kolkata, Aug 22 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Monday said India has been transformed into one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world.
Addressing the students on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here, Dr. Singh said: "Because of our gradualist approach, it took time for the economic reforms to have an impact. However, it is now clear that their impact has been remarkable. India has been transformed into one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world."
"If we can continue to grow at this rate, we are well positioned to be the country with the third largest GDP in the world by 2025. With our growing economic weight, our voice is also heard more carefully in the councils of the world," he added.
Asserting that India is today viewed as one of the most attractive destinations for FDI, Dr. Singh said: "From being a relatively closed economy at one time, we have become much more open both for trade and technology flows. We are today viewed as one of the most attractive destinations for FDI. Most of the world's major corporations have a presence in India, with substantial expansion plans."
"Those that don't are asking themselves why they don't. What is more important, India's corporations are expanding their footprint abroad through investments and mergers and acquisitions," he added.
The Prime Minister told the students that as business managers of the future, they will have a major role in this flowering of Indian enterprise and of Indian brands, not only domestically, but also on the world stage.
Dr. Singh further informed that he chaired a meeting of the full Planning Commission in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the approach to the Twelfth Plan, which begins next year.
"I must emphasise that while this rosy future is within our reach, it is not an assured outcome. We reviewed the many challenges we face in the years ahead. We set ourselves the objective of achieving faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth, with a growth target of 9 percent per year for the next five years," said Dr. Singh.
"Since we have already achieved about 8.2 percent in the Eleventh Plan period, it may seem that a transition to 9 percent growth is not difficult. However, it is in fact a very ambitious target given the current global economic situation, which is full of uncertainties about the prospects in industrialized countries and their implications for global capital markets," he added.
The Prime Minister said the Indian economy has slowed down compared to last year, and this year's growth may be around 8 percent or a little more, at best.
"Despite this sobering environment, we concluded that we should aim at 9 percent growth. This is because we are not planning for today, or even for the rest of this year. We are planning for the five-year period from 2012-13 to 2016-17. I believe India has the inherent economic strength to achieve this target provided we can do some of the difficult things needed to get there," he added. (ANI)
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