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Ratan Tata backs PM, blames everyone else for slow growth

The Tata group chairperson Ratan Tata has become in the latest entry in the list of high-profile Indian industrialists to remind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh what he should do with governance. The slowing economy seems to have brought out a policy maker in the corporate honcho.

On Thursday, Tata asked the prime minister to restore government credibility and place the country on a growth path once again by implementing promised reforms. The chairman of the USD 100 billion conglomerate has also hit out at the opposition, the media and 'some members of the ruling party', saying that it is 'grossly misdirected' to single out the prime minister and blame him for the economic woes that the country is facing.

'Now is the moment in time our Prime Minister must break convention, restore government credibility, place the country on a growth path once again by implementing promised reforms, removing roadblocks to growth and controlling crony capitalism,' Tata tweeted.

He said that 'the government action has been too little too late', as India has lost growth momentum over the past 12 months with investment confidence declining and inflation soaring. '[B]ut to single out and blame the Prime Minister is grossly misdirected,' Tata tweeted, saying he was 'depressed to see the attacks on India' and 'felt obliged to express [his] feelings'.

While defending Singh, Tata was cross with the media. He said, 'We should be concerned about unconfirmed sensationalised stories in the media to sell publications...' Recently, the Time magazine had termed Singh as an 'underachiever', while the UK-based The Independent had wondered if he was 'India's saviour or Sonia's poodle'.

Tata also said the country must be concerned about 'the manipulation of policy by power brokers and vested interest groups to meet their self serving desire to continue protection'.
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