“India is a big part of my plans.”

US President Barack Obama, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called to congratulate him on his re-election

“I think this is a lesson that all of us put together should learn that institutions charged with the responsibility of doing certain things should be allowed to do those things.”

Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal, blaming TRAI, the CA G and the Supreme Court for poor response to 2G auction

“We have to understand and support them, help them bounce back, and recover their dues for, after all, banking is all about relationship.”

Indian Overseas Bank Chairman and Managing Director M. Narendra

“Today there is reluctance to invest because they (industry) perceive a number of hurdles to investment. They also don’t see the economic situation very propitious or conducive to investment. I think some steps we took in September have broken this wave of fear but some part of it is still there. We have to now get down to the detail, ask each PSU (public sector undertaking), each sector, each business house why are you not investing. Invest. That is the effort.”

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram

“We have honoured every commitment on FDI in retail. Sixteen states met us and we had detailed stakeholder consideration including from farmers body, consumer Federations and Chambers of Commerce. I would like to say with full truth that the Government has honoured its commitments.”

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma

“Of late, capital flows seem to be moving the exchange rates and account for much of the volatility. The domestic forex market has witnessed a prolonged period of volatility with a one-way depreciation bias… . Therefore, the intervention policy not only aims at quelling the excessive volatility, but also attempts to moderate speculative one-way downward movement of the rupee.”

RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn

“Environment clearances, land acquisition should be done beforehand, otherwise the companies may not be interested in bidding for those blocks.”

NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury, on coal block auctions

“Low interest rates will not come automatically, unless the inflation is (also) low. What are the problems to growth? One is inflation, two is the fiscal deficit, and three is the current account deficit.”

RBI Deputy Governor K.C. Chakraborty

“I myself had raised the issue that it was a mistake to pitch the reserve price at a level close to that (Rs 14,000 crore). I think, in hindsight, it was clear that the reserve price was too high.”

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia

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