Top banking and insurance heads of the country met Gujarat chief minister and BJP?s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and gave him their wish-list for the sectors.
Modi met the business leaders at a summit, ?Financial Services ? a key driver for economic growth? on Wednesday. He said the financial services sector was the key driving force of the Indian economy.
?We have given priority to infrastructure, technology and skilled manpower and a combination of these will lead to a vibrant economy. Growth in various sectors like manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors has been talked about but the driving force behind these sectors is the financial institutions. But there is a mismatch in the vision of these sectors with the finance sector. If one state is agriculture centric and if financial institutions vie for providing finance in manufacturing sector there, then they face difficulties.? said Modi.
Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, said, ?Infrastructure, technology and skill development is being taken care of but a lot more needs to be done to create India as a global financial hub….To transform India into a financial hub, we need to take care of macro things to bring back growth and vibrancy in domestic economy. These include getting a stable level of fiscal deficit, stable level of current account deficit, getting inflation under control, creating stability around credit rating of the country and capital account convertibility.?
Modi trains gun on FM for ?taxing? his speeches
Taking a jibe at finance minister P Chidambaram, Modi said, ?the country has seen the vote-on-account and the FM claims he has been working hard. I was wondering what hard work he was up to. But I got to know on Tuesday that he was working hard to increase India?s revenue by taxing me for my speeches. Well, I am glad even in this way, I will be able to help the national treasury.? The central excise department had demanded payment of service tax by the BJP on ticket for entries to the party?s rallies, which were eventually dropped after angry reactions from the Opposition, which questioned the government?s motives.
