By IANS
New Delhi : Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore and its propulsion into one of the world’s high-growth centres, Tuesday said that poor infrastructure was slowing down India’s growth, but noted there was higher investment in this sector in recent years.
Presiding over a CEOs’ lunch meeting organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Lee was appreciative of India’s growth and described India as being “on a roll”.
“It’s the Indian season and it’s the flavour of international investors,” he said.
Stating that poor infrastructure was slowing down India’s progress, Singapore’s first prime minister added: “But I think India will find its rightful place in the international scene as we are seeing more investments in roads, bridges, airports, container ports etc”.
He also urged the Indian industry to take their corporate social responsibility to a wider platform so that there was more equitable distribution of economic benefits of prosperity in varied social sectors like education and primary health.
Urging the Indian government to evolve a political system that enables growth to spread faster and wider, Lee said that the challenge lay in how quickly the country could extract the benefits of growth.
He said that political leaders and other stakeholders had to realise that the only way India could grow was to move forward.
In his opening remarks, CII president Sunil Bharti Mittal said India’s greatest challenge was to find skilled manpower and retain them. He sought Singapore’s help in this regard.
Lee is in New Delhi on the second leg of his five-day visit to India. He arrived in Mumbai Sunday.
He is scheduled to meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi Thursday evening. He will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday.