India Inc Backs Surgical Strikes by Indian Army

New Delhi: Expressing solidarity with the Indian government on the surgical strikes it carried out on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC), India Inc asserted that it is completely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been showing "ideal leadership qualities in dealing with situations of heightened tensions with Pakistan".

"For the sake of national security, the Indian economy has a strong bandwidth to deal with any possible after effects of the current state of tensions with Pakistan," industry chamber Assocham said in a statement.

"The current situation also underlines the need for India to set up its own manufacturing base for high technology arms and ammunition with our country being among the largest importer of defence equipment. The government has already taken measures to liberalise foreign investment to set up defence manufacturing bases in India, but more needs to be done," it added.

The chamber added that while the reaction in the stock market to the news of India's surgical strikes was understandable, there is no cause of concern for the Indian economy which has the capability to take any extra costs to be borne for the sake of our national security.

Indian equities tumbled sharply on Thursday after India made this announcement. While applauding the Modi government for taking desired action of surgical strikes against Pakistan, Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said there will be no impact on India's trade and economy."

"Our industry and businesses will continue to function as usual," he said. "Terrorism is the biggest threat to our financial and economic stability, and growth. So decisive action against terrorism will spur growth," said Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, soon after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India can repel any force that subverts peace.

Das further added, "Terrorism is the biggest enemy of growth. The decisive action taken by the government to fight the menace will have very positive impact on country's economic and financial stability and growth."

Lauding the strikes by the army, Jaitley tweeted, "We are proud of Indian Army for taking pre-emptive action and repelling terrorists' attempt to destabilise peace and tranquility in the region."

M Veerappa Moily, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance at an event in Assocham said India's surgical strikes on Pakistan have not affected gold prices in the country.

Source: IANS