core sector communique

India’s Home Affairs Minister Chidambaram: Create Wealth but Share It Equitably

• About 100 million Indians fall outside the reach of government programmes to advance inclusive growth
• Managing inflation, now at about 8.5%, is a major challenge for India
• Education, particularly for girls, is a key to achieving inclusive growth 

Davos, Switzerland, 29 January 2011 – Growing by nearly 9% a year, India has become a model of an economy that is expanding rapidly within the context of an open, democratic society. The biggest challenge for the country is to ensure that growth is inclusive. “Examples like China have shown us that, as growth takes place, poverty comes down substantially,” said Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Ltd of India, in a session on “India’s Inclusive Growth Imperative” at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2011. “Growth and inclusion have to go hand in hand.” Kochhar is one of the Co-Chairs of the Annual Meeting.