Dr Manmohan Singh as finance minister from 1991-96 evoked a range of emotions -- balance, maturity, integrity, intelligence, are just some of them. 
 
India is both complex and challenging. Governance is all about give and take, and this reciprocity permeates the government's economic policy-making as well. Dr Singh's personality is well suited to provide leadership in this environment. 
 
For Dr Singh, the major challenge is to reach a 10 per cent GDP growth and to at least sustain a 7-8 per cent growth annually by providing a thrust to the rural economy, agriculture and infrastructure. 
 
Few understand these issues better than Dr Singh. It seems that Sonia Gandhi's choice augurs well for India's development and growth. 
 
The deregulation process which started in 1991, and continued for nearly 13 years, has truly globalised India. With 54 per cent of our population under 25 years, the human resource of the country is enormous. The time is ripe to set free this outstanding human resource and achieve ambitious growth. 
 
Dr Manmohan Singh, by all counts, is the right person to take India up the growth curve. 

(Tarun Das is the director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry.)

India Votes 2004