Hyderabad: Asserting that India has potential to emerge as a global hub for knowledge economy and a major supplier of manpower, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley today (Jan 9, 2004) called for "urban renewal" by creating mega global cities across the country with infrastructure facilities on par with international standards.

"Leveraging our inherent strengths, we need to use the next one decade to go into creation of mega global cities to consolidate on the gains we have already made in several spheres of economy," Jaitley said while delivering valedictory address at the 10th Partnership Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in Hyderabad.

Favouring comprehensive labour reforms, he cited the sterling performance of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to drive home his point that liberal labour laws could do wonders for the economy and SEZs could serve as growth engines.

"We have recently given in-principle approval for setting up 23 SEZs across the country," Jaitley said.

Noting a new sense of confidence and mindset change in the Indian industry replacing decades of cynicism, the Minister said the "most significant" change was that economic issues had now come to occupy the centre stage of country's politics and good governance had become a key electoral issue.

"We need to leverage this mindset change to push the growth rate to new levels. We can even pre-pone the date of India becoming a developed nation," he said.