Observing that the country was witnessing "unprecedented sustained growth" of economy and had become the third most attractive investment destination, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said massive infusion of funds was required in infrastructure sector to maintain it.
"We need a massive infusion of investment in the infrastructure sector. We have taken important steps to accelerate this process but much more needs to be done, without delay," he said addressing the concluding day's session of the two-day Congress chief ministers' conclave in Chandigarh.
Identifying employment, education and health as sectors requiring more spending, he said, "It is also essential that we improve the quality of governance, at all levels, and implement some key initiatives we have taken to redeem our pledge to our people."
In his 30-minute speech, the prime minister said that the "good news" was that the economy was on the move. "We are witnessing unprecedented sustained growth of the economy at the rate of over seven per cent per annum for three years in a row. In the last quarter the growth rate touched eight per cent."
Singh said the rate of inflation was under control despite "enormous pressures" on the energy front. "The rate of investment is rising and business expectations are bullish," he observed.
He, however, said that on the one hand the economy was moving at a good pace and there was an air of optimism, on the other there was "persistent cynicism" about governments and governance.
"We cannot ignore the growing desire of an increasingly informed people for better governance, for higher standards of morality and for courage in dealing with the challenges at hand. Populism and populist gimmicks no longer impress people, hard work does," he said.
Singh said some infrastructure sectors like telecom, railways and aviation were showing rapid improvement and pointed out that through adoption of value added tax by most states, the tax system has improved vastly.
"India has become the third most attractive investment destination after the United States and China. Our efforts towards creating a more peaceful neighbourhood have been noted and we are making steady improvement.
"On the whole both the polity and the economy are fairly healthy and robust. The progress is our relations with major powers has also boosted confidence in economy," he said. The prime minister said that the country should be able to sustain the momentum if nothing untoward happened.
"However, it also requires hard work from all of us," he said. Noting that the fiscal deficit remained at "unacceptably high levels", Singh said the fiscal health of the central and state governments must be improved.
"While revenues are rising, so is expenditure and we are in danger of sliding back on our commitment to fiscal responsibility," he said.
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