SME Times News Bureau | 06 Jan, 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met India's
top 10 business leaders and discussed the current economic scenario.
The business leaders included bosses of India's
largest conglomerates like Reliance Industries, Vedanta, Tata Group, Mahindra
& Mahindra, Adani and Bharti Enterprises, as they brainstormed on reviving
the economy and business sentiments, creating jobs and pushing growth.
Sources said the meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office in the
afternoon and Modi listened patiently to the who's who of India Inc including
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil
Mittal, Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan
Tata, Tata Group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani,
TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, and L&T
Chairman A.M. Naik, among others.
The over two-hour meeting discussed the current economic scenario and measures
needed to boost growth, consumption, employment, and reviving economy,
sentiments and industrial growth from the slowdown. The advance estimates for
2019-20 GDP numbers will be released on Tuesday.
India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the three months ending
September 2019 (Q2FY20) fell to 4.5 per cent, down from 5.0 per cent in the
previous three months and 7 per cent for the corresponding period of 2018 as
consumer spending and private investment weakened further and a global slowdown
impacted exports growth. This was the lowest reading since 4.3 per cent
recorded for the January-March quarter of 2013. With this reading, India's
economic growth fell for the sixth straight quarter.
The output of eight core infrastructure industries contracted for the fourth
consecutive month in November by 1.5 per cent, showing no signs of improvement.
Since August, the eight core industries are recording negative growth.
The output of coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, and electricity declined by
2.5 per cent, 6 per cent, 6.4 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 5.7 per cent,
respectively, according to the data. The eight core sectors had expanded by 3.3
per cent in November 2018.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget 2020 in February.