Reacting to Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Budget proposals on Monday, N Srinivasan, President, Confederation of Indian Industry, said:
"When we at CII met the finance minister, we had a wish list of three 'I's, and we are very happy to note that all these 'I's have been met.
"The first 'I' is inclusive growth, and this Budget targets rural growth, rural connectivity, education, health (though that has not been adequately addressed), and so forth. We want growth for all sections, not just a few.
"The second 'I' is industrial development at a faster pace. The cut in duties, especially customs, will help make Indian products much more competitive, and that is very positive, and it also aligns India with the structures in Southeast Asia.
"The third 'I' is infrastructure, which too has been looked into.
"This is not a Dream Budget, which is a good thing. It is a pragmatic Budget that does a fine balancing act between the pressures that the finance minister was under and staying on the reforms path.
"Now we want to add a fourth 'I'. That is implementation and it is the key to all the above. We need public-private partnership to make things happen.
"For instance, when we met the finance minister, we told him about our skills development initiative, and we are glad that this idea was picked up by him.
"Regarding increasing foreign direct investment, I think that is a wrong way to look at the issue. FDI will increase if our infrastructure improves. We need more transparency, and speedier implementation of our projects; such measures will automatically push up FDI in India."
