Masani welcomes PM's offer to lift controls

Summary

This Times of India report covers M. R. Masani’s response to the Prime Minister’s offer to lift business controls, made at a Forum of Free Enterprise meeting in Bombay. Masani welcomed the proposal but argued that businesspeople and industrialists would need to respond to the challenge. He attributed existing economic difficulties to excessive controls, bank nationalisation, and the expansion of public enterprises.

Key points

• M. R. Masani welcomed the Prime Minister’s offer to remove business controls.
• Masani urged businesspeople and industrialists to respond to the government’s challenge.
• He criticised bank nationalisation and controls for obstructing business activity.
• He argued that public enterprises embodied a conflict between political control and business efficiency.
• The report cites public-accounts findings of substantial waste, including Rs. 95 crores and Railway Board losses of Rs. 70 crores.
• Masani linked ineffective corrective action to the long delay between the misuse of public funds and its discovery.