New Delhi, Oct. 31: The Prime Minister has called a meeting of business leaders on Monday to discuss ways to limit the impact of the global financial crisis on India, kick-starting a consultation process sorely missed by some.

Singh has invited some of the biggest names of Indian industry such as Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Kumarmangalam Birla, automaker Anand Mahindra, bankers K.V. Kamath and Deepak Parekh, K.P. Singh of realty group DLF and telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal, sources said.

Chiefs of the three apex chambers — Assocham, CII and Ficci — will also participate in the meeting.

The disclosure of the meeting came soon after the government announced some steps in aid of steel and aviation (see chart). The sensex also rose by over 740 points to close at 9788.06.

The CII has already started preparing for the talks. “Today, we met some 26 CEOs in two batches. Three main points came out of these meetings. There is little credit available in the market and interest rates are high, demand has slowed down for many industries and confidence levels have sunk,” said C. Banerjee, the CII director-general.

Industry wants lower interest rates and has been complaining of the tight money policy being pursued by the RBI to combat price rise — a hot-button issue when polls are round the corner.

The industry wish list includes government spending on mega infrastructure projects, which is expected to generate demand and help pep up the economy — a solution suggested by the Prime Minister when he was in Beijing last week. But the government’s hands are somewhat tied by the farm loan write-off and ballooning subsidy bills.

Other sources said the Prime Minister might include ideas thrown up at the meeting in his G20 address in New York in mid-November.

The Prime Minister’s proactive role comes at a time sections of industry and economists have expressed surprise at what they termed in private “the non-consultative” mindset of the government.

Asked why the Monday interaction has not been left to the finance and commerce ministers — some ministers could attend the meeting — a source said: “When Prime Ministers and Presidents of every other country have been going out to reassure their people, our Prime Minister, too, should be seen as more proactive.”

A proposal was initially mooted to get Singh to address the nation on television. But it was dropped after his statement in Parliament.