Undeterred by the hard talk of his political opponents over the latest hike in petrol prices by oil companies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday made a strong pitch for decontrol of prices of ?most commodities? except those which are in the nature of ?semi public goods?.
Speaking to visiting Indian media for the G20 summit here immediately before his departure for Delhi, Singh said the general policy direction was irreversibly for ?decontrolling more and more prices?.
?We must allow markets to find their places,? Singh asserted. He said cutting expenditure (and hence some subsidies) was indeed indeed one of the ways to avoid slippages on the path of fiscal rectitude. However, in reply to a query whether diesel prices could also be decontrolled soon, he said such decisions were ?subject matter of political feasibility? and their timing would have to be carefully worked out.
On the alleged flight of black money to tax havens, he said one natural solution for the problem could be India?s emergence as a land of opportunity, which could persuade those who took away funds from the country to bring them back and potential others to cease looking for ?greener pastures abroad?.
Calling the G20 process ?an essay in persuasion?, which cannot be ?writing treaties?, but ensure that orderly global growth is not disrupted.
A collective commitment for each G20 government to follow its own policies has been built into the mutual assessment process of the grouping, Singh said. If not a sign of growing incohesiveness among the G20 members, which are in disparate economic situations, this showed increased freedom for them to do what they thought the right thing for their respective domestic economies .