Our problems are internal | Manmohan Singh

I am delighted to learn that The Hindustan Times group is launching a new business daily. I don’t think any modern market economy has as many as five daily newspapers devoted to business, economic and financial news. It is a mark of the growing interest of our people in the developments on the economic and business front, both at the national and international level, that so many publications find an audience. It is also a testimony to India’s pluralism that a variety of voices are heard on important policy issues. What is, however, encouraging to note is the fact that despite the increasing number of publications, websites and television channels devoted to economic and business news,there is in the media as a whole a consensus on the general direction of economic policy.

I am sure your newspaper will also add its weight to the general consensus in favour of a more competitive, more open, more globally integrated and more market-friendly economic regime in our country. At the same time I sincerely hope that our media as a whole will strengthen our hands in ensuring that our growth process is more inclusive and the process of economic change is humane and socially equitable.

The media has a responsibility to draw the attention of policymakers to market distortions and to malpractices. It has a responsibility to hold a mirror up to those in authority as well as those in control of the levers of power, patronage and wealth.

The financial and business media should firmly and steadfastly uphold the rights of consumers and investors. It should demand and defend transparency in the functioning of government, firms and markets. It should ensure that markets are competitive and function efficiently andin the interests of consumers, investors, shareholders and all other stakeholders.If your newspaper adheres to these values and principles it will contribute to the welfare of our people and the country, even as it meets the needs of its readers.

Your newspaper is being launched at a time when the Indian economy has recorded unprecedented growth. We are approaching the fifth consecutive year of more than 8% growth. There is great optimism about our prospects. Take a long view of history and you realize how dramatic this phase is. Through the entire first half of the 20th century, the economy grew at the rate of nearly 0% per year. For 30 years, from 1950 to 1980, the economy grew at the annual rate of 3.5%. For more than two decades after that, from 1981 to 2003, the economy grew at close to 6% per year. In the past four years, it has grown at more than 8%. In the first half of 2006-07, the growth rate rose to nearly 9%.