Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee admitted to being "disheartened" Saturday with the slow pace of economic reform.
In a speech to Indian industrialists, Vajpayee said there was no lack of political will to pursue the reform agenda first launched in 1991.
"I am, however, disheartened that overall the system of implementation still works with the same old mindset," he said.
"A mindset in which there is no transparent accountability and no drive to meet stipulated targets and deadlines."
While the Indian people are impatient for results, the government machinery exhibits no such sense of urgency, he added.
"If the experience of the past 10 years has taught us any one lesson, it is that reform of the implementation system must be made an integral part of the reforms process itself."
Prior to his speech, Vajpayee had listened to Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) president G.P. Goenka read a litany of grievances voiced by the business community.
Goenka specifically highlighted the "prohibitive" cost of electricity, for which industry is forced to pay inflated rates in order to subsidize free power for the vast rural community.
Goenka also cited the cost of borrowing capital, which he described as "probably the highest in the world."
The FICCI president also sought to expose what he described as an enduring myth of India's industrial competitiveness -- its large pool of cheap labor.
"Cheap labor was supposed to be a great competitive strength of Indian industry. It is no longer so," Goenka said, adding that organized labor had become expensive without a commensurate rise in productivity.
He cited a colleague who had visited a Chinese factory near Shanghai and observed workers on 12 hour shifts with one day off a month.
"I am not suggesting that in India we run sweatshops ... but ways and means have to be found so that we can stand up and compete rupee for rupee in the markets of the world" -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
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