Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the country's top business leaders on Monday, January 6, to brainstorm ways of reviving the economy and business sentiments, creating jobs and pushing growth.
The meeting was held at the PM's Office in the afternoon and Modi listened 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 AM Naik, among others.
PM Modi has been meeting with various groups and industrialists over the past few days. Monday's meeting was in line with those discussions in the run-up to the Union Budget due next month.
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.
Economic slowdown
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.
(With inputs from IANS.)
