Manmohan Singh Quotes

No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.

India happens to be a rich country inhabited by very poor people.

Capitalism historically has been a very dynamic force, and behind that force is technical progress, innovation, new ideas, new products, new technologies, and new methods of managing teams.

No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women.

Life is never free of contradictions

When I became finance minister in 1991, I discovered that the wealth tax rates income - there was taxation on wealth. It was so atrocious and so high that actually nobody could accumulate money in an honest way. I removed that tax, and the result was that Indian companies for the first time acquired an incentive to grow big, to grow rich.

I do believe that the future of civilization belongs to those who would lay emphasis on working together instead of talking about clash of civilizations.

Unity and secularism will be the motto of the government. We can't afford divisive polity in India.

Economic policy and decision making do not function in a political vacuum.

We need multiculturalism, respect for diversity, tolerance, respect for diverse faiths.

Ethical and responsible behavior needs to become the cornerstone of corporate behavior

I'm a small person put in this big chair.

The Indian economy grew at 5.5 percent, but if you look at the last 30 years - for example, 1960 to 1985 - the progress made by East Asian countries was phenomenal. In a single generation they had been able to transform the character of their economy. They were able to get rid of chronic poverty.

Meaningful solutions to the problems of mass poverty that prevails in India I believe can only be found in the framework of an expanding economy.

My top most priority is to deal with India's massive social and economic problems, so that chronic poverty, ignorance and disease can be conquered in a reasonably short period of time.

I think there are enormous possibilities. And today there are no I think barriers to increased cooperation with India and the United States.

Nobody should be allowed to tinker with democracy. We will not discontinue the good works of the past government.

Those who create wealth should be shown the greatest respect.

I do believe that India needs a lot more foreign direct investment than we've got, and we should have the ambition to move in the same league many other countries in our neighborhood are moving. We may not be able to reach where the Chinese are today, but there is no reason why we should not think big about the role of foreign direct investment, particularly in the areas relating to infrastructure, where our needs for investment are very large. We need new initiatives, management skills, and I do believe that direct foreign investment can play a very important role.

We are a mixed economy. We will remain a mixed economy. The public and private sector will continue to play a very important role. The private sector in our country has very ample scope and I am confident that India's entrepreneurs have the capacity, and the will to rise to the occasion.

With the revolution in information technology, with the revolution in transport technologies, I think just geography has lost its all significance.

Yes, I think India's economy always has been a mixed economy, and by Western standards we are much more of a market economy than a public sector-driven economy.

India is this great experiment of a billion people of such great diverse persuasions working together, seeking their salvation in the framework of a democracy. I believe it will have some lessons for all the multicultural societies.

The first and foremost priority is to finish the unfinished task which the founding fathers of India set out for us at the time of our independence: to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance, and disease, which have afflicted millions and millions of our people.

The premature migration of very large numbers of people from rural areas to urban areas can give rise to a lot of strains to the urban infrastructure, which can also create problems of crime - law-and-order problems.