World's focus towards India cannot be ignored: Praful Patel

24 May 2007

"There is a change in the mindset. The world's focus towards India cannot be ignored," said Patel. The conference, 'Indian Infrastructure - The Way Forward' was held on Wednesday evening.

Patel was speaking at a one-day conference organized by the India Business Forum at the London Business School.

Touching on a wide range of topics, Patel pointed out that India did not have a dearth of capital. "We would like to invest overseas. India has large amounts of money which has not been put to good use."

"As a government we are committed to reforms but it has to be inclusive. The interest of close to 300 million people, who have not been benefited from the reforms, have to be looked after," he said.

Responding to a question about the pressure on the government, from Left parties, to slow down the reforms process, Patel pointed out, "In spite of everything, the fact remains that there was not a single strike in the last three years."

Patel said that for the first time in the country, a committee on infrastructure development had been formed, with the prime minister's office monitoring implementation of projects in seven key infrastructure areas. In this regard he pointed out that the country had a "vibrant private-public partnership" policy.