PM to meet industry leaders today

New Delhi, July 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet industry leaders in New Delhi on Monday to discuss a sharp depreciation of the rupee and measures to correct a wide current account deficit as the urrency touched a record low in recent times.

The meeting is likely to be attended by CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan, ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, and Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal besides several others.

The Prime Minister's meeting comes against the backdrop of decelerating industrial production and the liquidity tightening measures undertaken by RBI to arrest decline in rupee.

RBI initiatives are likely to further choke growth.

CAD last fiscal was 4.8 per cent and the government intends to bring it down to 4.2 per cent this financial year.

The rupee slide is another concern for the government.

Earlier this month it fell to all-time low of 61.21 against the US dollar.