Within 24 hours of his address to the nation to explain the reasons behind the government’s move to expedite economic reforms, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said if everything went right, Asia’s share in the world economy could be greater than half by the year 2050. The present share is 27 per cent. Singh stressed the need for a business environment that met global benchmarks.
Addressing a conference on economic growth in Asia and changes in the corporate environment, he said, “As Asian governments, we in the government have the responsibility to ensure that corporate laws match up to international standards, that the regulation of our stock exchanges comes up to the expectations of global investors and that our banking and financial sectors are exemplars of both efficiency and stability.”
He added all the agencies concerned must build a climate that attracted investment to the country, encouraged and rewarded innovation, and established fair and effective regulatory institutions and legal processes.
“Above all, we have the responsibility to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in processes of governance,” Singh said.
The Prime Minister said the government was examining commercial and corporate laws to make them relevant to the challenges ahead, particularly to ensure empowerment of the marginalised sections of society.
“We will soon bring before Parliament the new Companies Bill that has been in the making for quite some time now,” Singh said at the conference having an audience that included delegates from South Korea, Chief Justice of India (CJI) S H Kapadia, CJI-designate Altamas Kabir and Law Minister Salman Khurshid.
The evolving economic space had to be addressed by all organs of the government: the executive, legislature and the judiciary, he said, adding the balance between the three organs might appear to get unsettled at times but ultimately it had stood the test of time.
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Singh praised the Indian judiciary for delivering some judgements having international ramifications and said the government was ready to adopt the transnational changes in corporate and economic laws.
“Judicial decisions may at times have transnational impact since the global financial and trade systems are also becoming closely integrated. Judges of the 21st century, therefore, have to be social scientists, economists, political thinkers and philosophers. We in India can justifiably feel proud that we are blessed with some of the finest judicial minds of the world,” he said.
Singh also emphasised the role of corporate social responsibility, intrinsically linked with the concept of sustainable development.