Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Bewildered over the "persisting regional imbalance" in India's industrial development and urbanisation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday sought answers to doubts as to whether the policies of the Centre, in the name of protecting domestic enterprises, had actually nurtured "crony capitalism."

Inaugurating the new campus of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID) here, Dr. Singh made it clear that the country's industrialisation could not be dependent only on large corporate groups and it required small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for both growth and employment.

"We cannot depend only on a few large industrial houses and capitalists for driving our industrialisation process. The employment-intensive nature and the greater regional spread of the SMEs makes them an attractive option for industrial growth," he said.

Alongside, credible policy solutions were required to help reduce such regional imbalances, he said, while pointing out that the process of industrial development "must spread to new regions, especially in northern and eastern India."

The Prime Minister was particularly concerned over certain media reports that India's top business leaders operate in "oligopolistic" market and in certain sectors, where the Government had conferred special privileges on a few. "This sounds like crony [monopolistic] capitalism," Dr. Singh remarked and, in turn, raised a host of questions.

"Are we encouraging crony capitalism? Is this a necessary but transient phase in the development of modern capitalism? Are we doing enough to protect consumers and small businesses from the consequences of crony capitalism... Have we, in the name of protecting them, encouraged crony capitalism? Do we have a genuine level playing field for all businesses? What should be done to inject a greater degree of competitiveness in the industrial sector?" Dr Singh asked.

Another challenge, Dr. Singh said, was to generate new jobs on a large scale in the industrial and manufacturing sector and still remain "competitive not just globally but also within our own region of South Asia and South East Asia."

In this regard, he wondered whether the country's labour laws were inhibiting the growth of new businesses. "If so, where and how? How do we create not just skilled jobs but unskilled ones to help agricultural workers make the transition to industrialisation? What kind of industries must be encouraged to grow and what can public policy do to help in their growth?" he asked.

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