CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES Address by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee Governor of Tamil Nadu, H.E. Dr K Rosaiah, Shri T Shivaraman, President, Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Smt. K Saraswathi, Secretary General, Shri T T Srinivasaraghavan, Immediate past President, MCCI distinguished Members of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ladies and Gentlemen: Good evening to all of you. At the very beginning I would like to express my regret that my programme has been delayed because I was held up in the earlier function. So you had to wait. I am sorry for that. I am happy to be here this evening and to meet the Members of this historic Chamber of the industry and business leadership in Tamil Nadu. You are in your 176th year of commendable service in promoting the interests of Commerce and Industry in Tamil Nadu. I congratulate you on your contribution to the progress of this prosperous and forward looking State. You have reason to be proud of your achievement. It is you and your fellow entrepreneurs that can take credit for the industrialization of our country, the building of its infrastructure, establishment of strong trade and business partnerships all over the world. You have sustained these with your strong business acumen, far sighted understanding and your forward looking approach in respective areas of investment and productive work. It is the entrepreneurial spirit of our nation’s business and industrial community that has achieved the high growth rate today which has earned India enviable status of an emerging economy. It is the momentum created by you and your counterparts that has seen India through the global economic meltdown. It is the relentless initiative and innovation
of the leaders and industry, trade and commerce, our farmers, our workers, our managers that will keep the fundamentals of our economy strong and that is the need of the hour. I would only emphasise that we should always keep uppermost in our mind the goal that our nation’s growth should be as inclusive as possible to encompass all sections of the society and to ensure that each and every one, even in the lowest stratum, to reap the benefits of the fruits of development. Among you there are any number of far sighted and hard working investors and innovators. You have proven yourselves that you have the expertise and the talent. I look to you to take up the opportunities in today’s globalised world to creatively sustain the enduring values and business ethics – one of your biggest strengths to live up to the good name that you have earned in the world. Nothing can be more dangerous than negative sentiments in our mind. I am sure that you will continue to radiate confidence and drive the development process with courage in a spirit of adventure and confidence. In course of time, there may be difficulties. The difficulties may sometime appear to be insurmountable. But always we shall have to keep in mind that every problem can be resolved through determination, through appropriate innovative and technological application of mind and if we proceed with that spirit, it would be possible for us to overcome the problems. Currently, no doubt we are passing through difficult time. Our GDP growth has slowed down. The rate of inflation is reasonably high, environment for fresh investment does not appear to be very bright, the current account deficit is likely to widen and fiscal deficit is also an area of concern. All these problems are there, but it is we ourselves who will have to solve these problems to resolve this crisis. Merely lamenting and
spreading negative sentiments would not help us to overcome the problems. We shall have to keep in mind that the entire world environment today is not very encouraging. No country today can live in isolation. International events have its impact on the domestic economy. Policy formulations at the domestic level cannot resolve all crises. But if we keep those long term objectives in view, then it will be possible for us to achieve the desired level of growth on a sustainable basis. There is no dearth of self styled Cassandras. Always they make forecast for doom. But how does it help? Because we have confidence in ourselves, our entrepreneurs, our farmers, our workers managers, our technologically competent work force. If we look at the history of the growth scenario of this country from a longer perspective and longer period of time, we will find there is nothing to be disappointed. Occasionally we have problems and there had been ups and downs. But we have been able to overcome those difficulties through our own efforts. As I mentioned, the fundamentals of our economy are strong - i.e the rate of domestic savings. Yes it may not be as high as 36% which we achieved in 200708 but still it is reasonably high running around 32 to 34%. It is true in the recent years particularly during the period between 2008-09, when the first major international economic crisis began and thereafter in 2011 till today the euro zone crisis which had the lasting impact on the world economic growth scenario, and in that context, if you look at, the first impact of 2008-09 reduced our growth from around 9% to 6.7%. But shortly with the efforts of our own entrepreneurs, our own workers, our own farmers, we were able to top the table and in two consecutive years 2009-10 and 2010-11, we achieved the growth at 8.4%. Again in 2011-12, our GDP growth has shrunk to 6.5%. This
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