Govt for liberalising retail, banking

Dept of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secy Ajay Dua said this at the opening day of the India Economic Summit.

The government on Sunday favoured greater liberalisation in retail, banking and other sectors of the services industry to put the economy on a higher growth trajectory.

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"The services contributed 54 per cent to the economy and in next five years it will grow to 60 per cent. The services sector is growing at seven per cent domestically and it can grow at a higher rate with further liberalisation of regulatory framework," Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Ajay Dua said.

Addressing the inaugural session of India Economic Summit organised by CII and World Economic Forum, he said in sectors like retail, banking, accounting and healthcare much more liberalisation, openness and liberalisation of regulatory framework is needed.

While growth was propelled by services and manufacturing, labour intensive sectors were not expanding that fast, Dua said, pointing to the footwear industry.

He said agriculture, which supports 65 per cent of the population, has grown at just three per cent in the last decade. Dua said credit delivery system has failed the agriculture system, leading to large number of suicides in the Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

"These well conceived programmes require vast resources. The shift in public expenditure is required to fund social infrastructure," he added.

Later at the Opening Press Conference of the Summit, CII President R Seshasayee said the summit was entering its 22nd year and would embarking on the third phase. In the third phase, focus would be on sustaining the growth rates of the economy and to ensure that it benefits all, he said.

Seshasayee said in the first two phases, the summit had taken upon the task of opening up the economy and marketing India and in both these, its efforts have been successful.

He said India was on everyone's radar and foreign participants outnumber Indians by 3:1.