Manmohan to meet business leaders for economy check

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of top industry captains, including Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, on March 30 as part of a stock-taking exercise of the economy. Gaurav Choudhury reports.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of top industry captains, including Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, on March 30 as part of a stock-taking exercise of the economy.

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The meeting of the Prime Minister's 23-member council on trade and industry is being held at a time when the government's macroeconomic managers are struggling for options to sustain growth and keep prices under check amid corruption scandals that are hitting political and business sentiments.

Food prices have remained stubbornly high for most of the past year while oil prices have crossed the $100-a-barrel mark, knocking up prices of other goods.

Ratan Tata, Ashok Ganguly, Mukesh Ambani, R P Goenka, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal, Swati Piramal, Deepak Parekh, and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are some of the big names who will be at the Prime Minister's meet next week. The council is a forum for policy dialogues between the government and industry on important economic issues.