16 December,2012 08:35 AM IST | | Agencies
At the Annual General Meeting of industry association FICCI, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government has the "courage of conviction and the interest of people at heart" and taken some politically difficult decisions. "Our government is committed to doing everything to alter the policy environment, to accelerate economic growth and to make the growth process more inclusive," he said.
He added that the steps the government had taken recently were the beginning of a process to revive the economy and take it back to its trend growth rate of eight to nine per cent.
"We need to complete the exercise that was begun on GAAR and taxation of the IT sector. The Cabinet has approved the constitution of a Cabinet Committee on Investment. We will speed up the disinvestment process to revive our equity markets."
"We will bring clarity in the FDI policy in the pharma sector, Direct Tax Code and the Goods and Services Tax Bills. Better rural infrastructure integrated rural economy far more effectively into the larger national economy. He concluded that the time was ripe for a new "social compact" between business, government and society.
