Top bureaucrats take stock of economic situation to arrest slowdown in growth

NEW DELHI: The day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for reversing the mood of pessimism, top bureaucrats today took stock of the economic situation with secretaries of various ministries to firm steps for arresting the slowdown in growth.

"Cabinet Secretary (Ajit Seth) took meeting of secretaries of economic ministries. We took stock of the current economic situation," a senior official said, after the meeting.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Finance Secretary R S Gujral, Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, Commerce Secretary S R Rao, Industry Secretary Saurabh Chandra and Power Secretary P Uma Shankar.

The meeting of top bureaucrats comes a day after Singh, who assumed charge of the Finance Ministry after Pranab Mukherjee quit to contest for Presidential election, has called for reversing the climate of pessimism and regeneration of "animal spirit" in the economy.

India's economic growth during 2011-12 slipped to 9-year low of 6.5 per cent and the current fiscal it is not expected to do much better. The domestic currency too has depreciated sharply in the recent weeks going below Rs 57 to a dollar.

Singh yesterday held meetings with key economic advisors including PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu.