The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Thursday said it was not averse to a change of guard at the Centre but wanted the new government to continue the reforms process and provide stability.

Listing out some of the failures of the National Democratic Alliance government like tackling unemployment, infrastructure bottlenecks and social sector development, FICCI president Yogendra Modi said the new government should lay thrust on these issues which afflicted the common man.

"The public wants quality of life to be improved and basic amenities like roads and electricity, where I think the NDA government failed. Also, the government could not create adequate employment in sectors where there could have been large-scale jobs," Modi told PTI.

Asked whether India Inc had any apprehensions, especially if Congress president Sonia Gandhi took charge of the new government, he said stability was the only concern.

"Leadership is not an issue for the industry. The only thing we look forward to is stability which can come only if all the constituents of the government become a part of it (new government) and not extend support from outside," the FICCI president said.

Modi said efforts should be made by the new government to provide basic amenities to the public. "Education, health, electricity and water management are among the areas which require immediate attention. Also, the big issue of unemployment has to be tackled," he said.

Modi said the condition of roads in rural areas was very poor and needed to be improved. "Just building highways is not enough, roads for public use also need to be built. Also, the Electricity Act needs to be implemented to solve the power problems," he said.

He said the new government should look at issues like generating more employment from the manufacturing sector, deregulating agriculture, implementing VAT (value-added tax) and removing anomalies in the duty structure.

"We hope that the Congress, which has many of these issues in its manifesto, implements them if voted to power," he added.

India Votes 2004