UNIDO offers help to India for 12th Plan implementation

NEW DELHI: The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation ( UNIDO) today said it would like to help India in implementing the 12th Five Year Plan.

After meeting Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma here, UNIDO Director General Li Yong said he discussed about the cooperation between India and the UN organisation.

India's 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) is a comprehensive development plan, he added.

"UNIDO would like to help your government to implement that plan. We will try our level best," he told reporters.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had said that the 12th Five Year Plan lays emphasis not merely on economic development but also on inclusive growth to bring more poor and marginal people under its ambit.

The annual average economic growth rate target envisaged under the 12th Plan is 8 per cent.

Reeling under the impact of slowdown, Indian economy grew by 5 per cent in 2012-13, the first year of the 12th Plan. The economic growth is expected to be flat this year, according to different analysts.

The first quarter (April-June) economic growth in this fiscal has slipped to 4.4 per cent from 4.8 per cent the previous January-March quarter.