India headed in 'Right Direction' to cut poverty, says ADB President
05 May '06
3 min read
Also speaking in the half day India Day program were central and local government officials including India's Minister of Finance, P. Chidambaram; Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia; Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy; and figures from industry and finance.
Mr. Chidambaram said growth has been achieved despite severe shocks, which could have crippled a less resilient economy. And he accepted that foreign direct investment could play an important role in not only stepping up the investment rate but in also enabling transfer of technologies and the globalization of Indian firms.
“Investor confidence in India is all time high today,” he said. “We are all well aware that shortage of infrastructure has been our problem for a number of decades. But we've started to put our house in order. Reforms cut across various sub-sectors of infrastructure including, roads, airports, ports, power and urban utilities.”
He said it has taken India 14 years to evolve from a poor and perhaps forgotten country to a thriving and increasingly noticed emerging economy. “I am confident that it would take us much shorter than 14 years to join the league of developed nations,” he said.
The work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day.
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