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SV INT. Mrs. Gandhi entering conference room.
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SV Industrialists seated.(2 shots)
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SV PAN ALONG Ministers, including Mrs. Gandhi.
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SV Industrialists (2 shots)
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CU AND SV Mrs. Gandhi seated. (2 shots)
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TRANSCRIPT: "Perhaps we have lived too long in the rather cosy atmosphere, if I can call it that" said Mrs. Gandhi, "Of a high-cost, sheltered domestic market. Now we must venture out into the world with a new spirit of dynamism and efficiency".




Initials VS 16.10 VS 16.15 1255/1555



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Most of the leading Indian industrialists gathered in New Delhi of Tuesday (5 August) for a meeting at the Board of Trade offices. The meeting was opened by the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and it was part of a Government campaign to give a new direction to industry following Mrs. Gandhi's announcement of a new economic plan.

The Government has claimed that it has not only halted inflation, but also brought about a two-and-a-half per cent reduction in the rate of inflation. Ministers base this claim on the current price index compared with that of a year ago.

Also at the Board of Trade meeting were leading members of Mrs. Gandhi's cabinet, and top officials of the economic ministries.

In her speech to the industrialists, Mrs. Gandhi said that the country should make full use of the new mood created by the Emergency and achieve greater efficiency. She said that before the introduction of emergency powers, each section of the community had been seeking what it could for itself, without weighing the cost to the other sections. This had created an imbalance in the life of the country and sense of indiscipline.

She said that a special responsibility rested on industry because it absorbed,directly or indirectly, a large part of India's foreign exchange. They should prepare themselves, she said, to achieve an annual growth rate in exports of at least 10 per cent in volume.