Union Minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Narayan Rane on Monday said the government was keeping a close watch on the global recessionary trends and all efforts would be made to minimise its impact in the country so that people do not face hardships. The minister said many developed countries were to face recession and indications were that this was expected to hit India after June.
With 50% of the population expected to live in urban areas, there would be a lot of investments needed to meet the demand of the growing urban population but the government would not be able to do this on its own and would need private investment and support from multilateral funding institutions, the minister said.
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The minister was speaking at a media interaction after inaugurating the first G-20 Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency in Pune.
The government was focusing on attracting investments and generating employment, Rane said. India was on its way to becoming the fifth largest economy in the world and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would deliver what he has promised with massive investments in infrastructure and promoting industrial investments, the minister added.
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The IWG co-chaired by Australia and Brazil with India saw participation from IWG member countries, 13 guest countries and international organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation and Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries. The meeting was hosted by the department of economic affairs, the ministry of finance. The meeting focused on infrastructure investments, including developing infrastructure as an asset class, promoting quality infrastructure investment and identifying innovative instruments for mobilising financial resources for infrastructure investment. The Asian Development Bank conducted a workshop on the financing of cities of tomorrow with experts to discuss problems, options and share success stories of funding urban expansion.