New Five-Year Plan To Cost India £7650m

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29250, 7 July 1960, Page 8

New Five-Year Plan To Cost India £7650m

- (IV.Z. Press Association— i Copyright) NEW DELHI, July 6. India plans to spend 102,000 million rupees (about £7650 million) on her five-year plan, beginning next April, it was announced in New Delhi yesterday.

Details of the plan—the most ambitious economic development scheme to be launched in India since the country achieved independence 13 years ago—were given in a draft outline released by the Indian Government By 1966, the Government hopes to increase the national income by 30 per cent., increase grain production from 70 million tons to 105 million tons, increase the production of steel ingots to 10,200,000 tons, and double power output to 11,800,000 kilowatts. The State will find 62,000 million rupees (about £4770 million) of the total. The balance is expected to come from private investors. The plan also envisages the creation of 13,500,000 new ' jobs, free compulsory education for every child aged between six and

11, and the provision of clean drinking water and roads in each of the 500,000 Villages in India. The Government plans to spend about 16,750 million rupees (about £l2BB million) on agriculture, including irrigation works. About 15.000 million rupees (about £1154 million) will be spent on industry and minerals. Steel production will be increased by expanding porduction in the three existing State-owned steel plants, and by setting up a fourth plant. ' It is estimated that the Government will heed about 21,000 million rupees (about £1615 million) in foreign aid during the period of the plan. The plan said that for some time, India would have to depend on excess imports to get her development schemes going, but

emphasised that all efforts should be made to reduce and ultimately end that imbalance within the foreseeable future. To complete the plan, deficit financing will be neede-1, although on a lesser scale than in the second five-year plan. The new draft plan said: “The vicious circle of poverty and low levels of saving and investment can be broken only by more effective mobilisation of potential resources, and by continuous channelling of the consequential gains in production into investment.” The final form of the new plan will be made known early next year. ,