Giving the valedictory address at the All India Management Association's national convention, Jalan said the country's foreign exchange reserves were comfortable and enough to service import requirements of six months.

Dwelling on developments of recent origin of relevance to the Indian economy, he pointed out that "death of distance" as a result of advances in communication technology would make location irrelevant to decision-making in business. Besides, he said, the services revolution had underscored the fact that it was a pre-condition for ensuring growth unlike the situation till recently when it was considered as a marginal activity.

He added that the mobility of capital was also a key determinant in the country's growth prospects and stated that if opportunitieswere seized in time, India could become one of the fastest growing nations in the world in the next 10 years. On the theme of the convention, Jalan said: "To face increased global competition, it is important to concentrate on our long-term competitive strength and gear our research & development, technological requirement and managerial strength towards that end."

Meanwhile, Jalan, while delivering the valedictory address at the National Institute of Bank Management in Pune, said: "It is difficult to think of gaining a long-term competitive strength without substantial improvement in the power, transport and communication situation. There is, at present, a large gap between the demand and supply of infrastructure and compared with some of the developing nations, our infrastructure is very important... Increasing public investment in infrastructure and involving private sector in infrastructure development is a key task for the future."

Electric power generation per 100 persons was 9.2 million kilowatts(Kw) India in 1992 compared with 165.4 million Kw in Japan, 154 million Kw in Hong Kong, 61.7 million Kw in Korea and 22.1 million Kw in Thailand.

"Reducing this infrastructure disparity is a task which needs to be addressed through public and private investment," Jalan said.

The Reserve Bank governor was of the view that challenges on the policy front assumed importance in a more open world economy. While observing that the government's role comes into focus as a confidence-builder, a catalytic agent and a mediating agent, Jalan identified three majors areas significant in this context - gearing of macro-economic policies towards reducing uncertainty and risk to investors and savers; increasing investment in the physical infrastructure; and building social infrastructure. Touching upon management challenges, Jalan said: "A growing open economy exposes firms, investors and the economy to several rigidities that could pose potential risk to the industry and the economy. This is where management challengesare at their toughest."

The Reserve bank governor was of the view that the most important element of sustaining competitiveness is to build internal strength of a company by imparting a long-term focus to its planning and developing its unique strength in the market. "This requires identifying our core competence and investing to strengthen this," Jalan said.