Fuel supply to power plants by year-end, says Montek

Gurgaon: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday said the government hoped to address all issues related to coal and gas supply to power plants by the year-end.

Power is an essential component of the India growth story, he said and the government would focus on development of infrastructure in the energy sector.

Ahluwalia was speaking at the ‘Invest North’ conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here.

He said foreign direct investment would benefit infrastructure.

[caption id=“attachment_513698” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Annual growth in eight core industries more than doubled to a seven-month high of 5.1 percent in September . GettyImages[/caption]

Ahluwalia also said the deceleration in GDP (gross domestic product) growth had bottomed out with the economy showing signs of revival in the second quarter of this fiscal.

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Annual growth in eight core industries more than doubled to a seven-month high of 5.1 percent in September on good production in coal, cement and petroleum refinery sectors.

“In the first quarter of this financial year, GDP growth was 5.5 percent, while in last quarter of last financial year it was 5.3 percent, so it can be said that deceleration in growth has bottomed out,” Ahluwalia told reporters on the sidelines of the conference here.

He said the steps taken by the government recently to revive sentiment and growth momentum in the economy will start showing results by January.

IANS