Pitching strongly in favour of quality and better productivity, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today urged all stake holders to join hands to ensure better use of latest knowledge and technology for this purpose. Inaugurating an international Congress on the subject in New Delhi on Monday, he asserted a lot of developments are taking place in these areas internationally and in tandem with them it is time to disseminate the latest knowledge and technical know how for achieving higher standards. The Prime Minister called for this sophisticated techniques of statistics and research have to be used. He added that the use of technology in planning and supply chain management has the potential to improve productivity and reduce cycle times as well as inventory drastically.

The statement has come at a time when Prime Minister has asked the states to do away with octroi and mandi taxes to ensure hassle free supply of food items. The supply demand gap of these items has led to spurt in their prices putting further pressure on inflation.

The Prime Minister said a company keen to stay competitive needs to find faster, cheaper and better ways of doing things and at the same time deliver products of a high quality. Dr. Manmohan Singh said it is not enough to meet the requirements of customers only but the focus has to be to grow in excellence and foster innovation.

Addressing the function the Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee urged the private sector to join hands with the public sector to achieve better standards of products besides staying competitive. He said that both quality and quantity is essential for faster growth trajectory.

AIR correspondent reports that both Prime Minister and the Finance Minister urged the domestic industry to take lessons from the international developments and chart out the future course of action. They however maintained that this may take sometime now.