As economy falters, PM gets down to serious business

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sharply stepped up his involvement in key economic decisions, intervening in a raft of issues ranging from coal supply to foreign investment, in an attempt to correct the widespread perception that the UPA government is in the grip of a debilitating lethargy that has brought decision-making to a grinding halt.

The leader of the world's largest democracy has presided over half-a-dozen meetings where he has pored over the minutiae of such things as skill development, appropriate rules governing foreign investment in the pharmaceuticals sector, and problems facing the infrastructure and energy sectors.

The prime minister's focus in these meetings has been to identify and clear bottlenecks that have delayed implementation of projects and accelerate investment and growth, said an official who has attended many of these meetings. Some of the meetings have borne fruit.

Last month, the country's leading private power companies complained to the prime minister that almost 22,000 mw of capacity was lying idle because Coal India Ltd (CIL), the monopoly fuel supplier, had refused to sign fuel supply agreements and meet supply commitments.

The PM had then assured power developers that his team would come back with answers in four weeks and he has been true to his word.

"CIL has now told us that the new fuel supply agreements will be signed within a month and we would get at least 80% of the committed supplies, failing which they would pay penalties," said a power company official who is waiting to sign a fuel agreement. CIL has been instructed to first meet the demand of the power sector before e-auctioning coal in the open market.

"The new year agenda of UPA-II to make things happen is showing in the government... the PM aided with his new battery of officials, including Pulok Chatterji (the recently appointed principal secretary to the PM), has led from the front and taken initiatives to resolve pending problems. There is a new energy in the air," said veteran banker and HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh.