Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said India needs to develop a corporate debt market to meet the projected investment of $1 trillion required to sustain the country’s economic growth rate in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). A corporate debt market enables private industry to raise funds through debt instruments and channelise these into specific sectors, including infrastructure.
“We must, I think, create a viable corporate debt market. I think that is the direction in which we must move,” Singh said during his meeting with editors of the electronic media in New Delhi.
He also said in addition to these steps, India needs to attract investment from foreign countries.
Discussions are going on to create an infrastructure development fund and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may make some announcements in this direction, he said.
“I think some discussions are going on and most probably, I think, Finance Minister will outline something in that direction,” he added.
Poor infrastructure, including bad roads and power shortage, are affecting the country’s growth and flow of foreign direct investment in important areas.
The government has projected an investment of $1 trillion in the country’s infrastructure sector in the 12th Five-Year Plan, of which it expects 50 per cent to come from the private sector.
