Government not pulling as a team, says Deepak Parekh

Housing Development and Finance Corp chairman Deepak Parekh said on Sunday that the controversy surrounding the leaked Niira Radia tapes in connection with lobbying for the telecom ministry could neutralise India's growth story.

The UPA government needs to work as a team to get things back on track, Parekh said in an interview to NDTV. "The big boys in the government are pulling in different directions and not working as a team," he said.

"They are following their own agenda, own departmental agenda, not looking at a broader picture, the prime minister has to get that organised," he added. Indian companies were investing abroad because it was easier to do business in foreign countries, Parekh said.

He was disappointed that "everything that was going so well a few months ago" seems to have "suddenly snapped and taken a downturn".

"We had really taken off and we were darling of the western world, of the MNCs, everyone wanted to invest in India and suddenly there's a snap," Parekh said.

"It is high time to patch things up,'' Parikh, said the well respected pioneer of housing finance in the country.