Speaking at the plenary session on the `The Asean Crisis-Lessons for India', at the Partnership summit 1999 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry at Jaipur, Kumaramangalam advocated against picking up short-term money and advised that the industry should look for long-term investment for setting up productive infrastructure.

The minister said a certain amount of fiscal deficit is okay as long as the investments are in productive sectors. But, a three or four per cent deficit is not a cardinal rule if one did not know where the money is going, he added.

Kumaramangalam stated that there was no panacea other than good management, honest management and good governance with transparency in any economic policy for growth and development.

Thailand's deputy prime minister and minister of commerce Supachai Panitchpakdi in his address stated that theAsean crisis took place because of systemic failure and not due to any mistake on the economy's part. The crisis took place at a time when the whole world had got so inter-linked and one single error caused the meltdown, he added.

Panitchpakdi pointed out that India has to learn four important lessons from the crisis. He talked about efficient market signals, reliable statistics and information, macroeconomic mismanagement during downward adjustment and legal reforms.