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Chidambaram confident of India's future

Inaugurating a seminar on Strategy for Growth -- Consumer Electronics and Appliances, organised by the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association in Bombay today, the finance minister said that what is needed was to be more and more competitive to take up the challenges of the foreign competition.

Pointing out that customer satisfaction coupled with competitive prices will be the key to future, Chidambaram exhorted industry to address the issues related to urbanisation and the nuclearisation of families by reaping the advantages of the telecommunication revolution, which is now evident in every part of the globe.

"A huge market for every sector still remains untapped, be it consumer goods or home appliances,' the finance minister declared, and urged industrialists to tap each and every customer to ensure a better future, sound economy and stable growth rate.

Declaring the fundamentals of the economy are strong, he said inflation and interest rates have come down, the current account deficit is low, reserves are as high as US $29 billion, the debt-management is extremely good, and the debt-servicing ratio is showing a downward trend.

Chidambaram, who was virtually mum about the current political drama, did remark that elections are a way to rediscover confidence. "Rough patches may be there in the economy in some of the areas," he said, "but efforts are being made to address all the issues."

While agreeing that the manufacturing sector was a bit sluggish, he stated that the service and agriculture sectors had performed remarkably well in the first quarter, while the country was heading for a good crop yield.

He warned that there will be a shakeout if the industries do not perform well. "In the competitive world, we cannot afford to be sick," he added.

Chidambaram asked the state governments to desist from unnecessary taxation, which only burdened industry and the community as a whole. The finance minister said his aim was to collect taxes efficiently. Lower taxes, if collected efficiently, generate more revenue, he claimed.

Chidambaram insisted that draconian taxes like octroi, introduced by the British years ago, need to be abolished. He called upon the state governments to see that they are not taxing the industry unnecessarily. "We are taxing goods and services, but should see that financial transactions are not taxed," he said.

UNI