Speaking at the national conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Bakht said, "what is ahead of us, is an enormous potential for growth".

The industry minister assured the industry that the government would remove bureaucratic procedures which create friction and impediment in the way of inflow of funds especially foreign direct investment.

According to the minister, the government will re-appraise the reforms by giving primacy to accelerated development. "We would broaden, widen and speed up the process of internal liberalisation", he added.

Bakht stated that the government was examining what further steps, procedural and otherwise, were needed to be taken to accelerate investments into the infrastructure sector.

He was of the view that the conference should throw some light in identifying the appropriate mix of policies andstrategies that could combine growth not only with "equity" but also with "stability".

The minister said that one had witnessed several economies which were on a high growth path for years and had come almost at par with developing countries after being de-estabilised overnight due to factors and forces that emanated from outside.

"This casts grave doubts that policies which promote growth per se may not ensure stability", he said. The government's utmost concern therefore, is not only to look for high rate of growth for economy but also impart a strength and steadiness to it, Bakht added.

He however, said that unquestionably the need of the hour was to bring growth back. The GDP growth rate was expected to drop to mere five per cent and it was the top priority of the government to boost it up, Bakht said.

He stated that the government had spelt out its commitment regarding the building of infrastructure and creating an environment where investments both domestic and foreign could flow in. "Theensuing budget would give us an opportunity to give shape to many of these commitments", he added.

On the subject of education, Bakht said that education, skill, endowment and training were decisive in building a strong nation both industrially and socially. He sited the case of Y2K problem in the field of computers, which he felt provided tremendous employment opportunities.