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PM seeks business, political support for reforms

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday sought consensus on long-delayed labour reforms and asked political parties to support the passage of crucial economic legislations during the monsoon session of Parliament beginning Monday.

"I appeal to all the major political parties for a consensus on labour reforms so that we can soon give effect to consensus through appropriate legislations. I appeal to all political parties to help us conclude our legislative agenda fully in the monsoon session of Parliament," Vajpayee said at his Trade and Industry Advisory Council meeting.

Stressing that economic fundamentals were strong, he said there has been "unprecedented price stability. Inflation is around 2 per cent. Foreign exchange reserves have grown to $58 billion, which provides more than 13 months of import cover -- the highest for any country excepting China."

Stating that GDP would grow by over 6 per cent this year, Vajpayee said he was confident that the economy would further prosper in the "strong and able hands" of the new Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and pointed out that reforms had moved fast despite the situation on the borders.

At the same time, he said that economy could not rise to its full potential without the contribution of the business community, which must reform itself and must adhere to good corporate governance.

Leading industrialises including Kumaramangalam Birla, Ratan Tata, Nusli Wadia, Sashi Ruia, Rajiv Chandrashekar and presidents of the apex chambers FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) attended the meeting to discuss Electricity and Petroleum Regulatory Board Bills.

On the recent financial scams like Enron, Xerox and Merck, Vajpayee said accounting scandals in other parts of the world are beginning to worry a lot of people about the "bombshells hidden in the boom time economy."

"We can't allow people's faith in economic liberalisation to be shaken by those who do business with an ethical deficit," he said and asked the Indian industry to make corporate governance a "touchstone" of their committments to reforms.

Vajpayee said that the government would further accelerate the divestment process as the returns had exceeded the "most optimistic expectations" and appreciably increased the value of PSU equities.

"Apprehensions on security of employment after divestment have been shown to be without foundation," he said, adding, "we will relinquish government involvement in production and raise resources for development of our social sector."

Apart from the two Bills to be considered by the council, Vajpayee sought support of political parties for the passage of Convergence Bill for Telecom and IT, the Competition Bill, Patents Bill, the Amendments to Civil Procedure Code, the Ordinance for Securitisation and Reconstruction of Finance Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests.

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