India, Inc. to help Plan panel with policy framework

NEW DELHI: India, Inc. is set to make a foray into the Planning Commission. For the first time, leading players in corporate India, such as Reliance and ITC, will contribute to the planning process in the country.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has inducted leading corporate houses on the dozen-odd consultative committees that will review the 10th plan and suggest course correction in the policy framework to achieve the 7-8% growth target.

International consulting firm McKinsey and multilateral agencies such as Asian Development Bank, too, will be allowed to share their international experience with the Indian planners to fine-tune the policy framework. The World Bank will also chip in with its comment on certain issues.

Further, industry associations such as FICCI, CII and Assocham, financial institutions, academia and non-governmental agencies have been taken aboard the consultative committees that will review the policy framework being pursued by the government. These interest groups can suggest changes required in the policy framework that would be pursued residual period of the 10th plan period terminating in ’07.

The idea, according to plan panel sources, is to bring in alternative perspective to the planning process. The non-governmental agencies and others are expected bring new ideas to the mid-term review.

Sources feel the participation of the industry and other stakeholders in the mid-term review will mean greater transparency in policy making. It could also mean re-inventing the Planning Commission from being a body entrusted with allocation of resources and policy formulator to being a think tank for the country.

These consultative committees will review the draft appraisal notes prepared by the internal committees of the Planning Commission and make comments and suggest amendments, if any. They will also review the existing institutional delivery mechanism and suggest changes to make them more efficient.