'Political uncertainty to stunt growth'

Tata Sons Chairman Ratan N Tata has expressed the fear that the current political uncertainty will make India stumble and "cause the momentum of growth, which we have enjoyed, to pause if not reverse".

A mid-term election, according to him, will make the country's target of 10 per cent growth in the gross domestic product "difficult".

Describing the Indo-US nuclear deal as the "best possible thing that has happened to India in a long while", he said its collapse would deal a "serious setback to India" and affect foreign investment. If the deal did not materialise, "the only people who would be happy were the people of Pakistan and the people of China".

In a two-part interview to the TV18 Network, one of which will be broadcast by CNN-IBN at 8:30 pm tomorrow and the other at 10:30 pm on Monday, Tata spoke of the need for the government to be bold. "India needs to be a more open financial economy. Therefore financial services, banking, insurance need to be opened up. There can be constraints on market share that you put so our financial services don't get dominated by foreign companies but, nevertheless, it needs to be opened up."

Praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tata said the government failed to perform to the required level, owing to political constraints. "The prime minister has genuinely and seriously wanted to see the reform take place. I think the political system has not allowed delivery of that reform to take place."

He also praised West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as an absolute pleasure to deal with. "I have seldom dealt with a chief minister who is more sincere... I enormously respect him."

He said the only reason his group did not move out of Bengal was Bhattacharjee's commitment and the fact that he was prepared to risk his chief ministership to fulfil that commitment. At the same time, Tata appeared to suggest that the time had come for the Left to reinvent itself.

Stating that he was "longing" to step down as Tata Sons chairman, he said it depended on how soon he could find a successor. "As per the rules that we have, I have five more years to go. I may not stay all of those five years if I have a successor in place before then."