"There are many paths to achieve growth. It could be dole-led, subsidy-led or concession-led growth. But none of them are sustainable. What is sustainable is investment-led growth," he said at the Ficci annual general meeting in New Delhi.
"We must demonstrate the capability to sustain (high 8 per cent) growth for next 10 years. That requires massive investment," he said.
Urging India Inc to step up investment, he said though the economy logged over 7.5 per cent growth in some of the years since 1994 and clocked 8.2 per cent last fiscal, it was "sporadic" in contrast to China's sustained high growth, which pursued investment led growth.
"Every sector of the economy performed exceptionally well during April-October this fiscal... We must demonstrate the capability to sustain (high 7-8 per cent) growth for next 10 years. That requires massive investment," he said.
He said investment intentions and proposals recorded a whopping 26.9 per cent growth at Rs 17,93,979 crore till October 2004, which was in sharp contrast to a declining trend since 2001-02.
Investment proposals were at Rs 15,43,378 crore (Rs 15433.78 billion) in October 2001, which came down by 2.8 per cent a year later and further dipped by 5.7 per cent to Rs 14,13,698 crore (Rs 14136.98 billion) in October 2003.