DHAKA: India’s new government pledged on Monday to make the revival of the flagging economy its ‘paramount’ target as it laid out its legislative agenda following prime minister Narendra Modi’s landslide election victory.

In an address to the two houses of parliament which was drawn up by Modi’s new Cabinet, president Pranab Mukherjee said India’s economy faced ‘extremely difficult’ times and that inflation was ‘unacceptably’ high.

The speech also included a series of ambitious policy goals that had been laid out in the election manifesto of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the creation of 100 new cities and a revamp of the railway network.

‘The country is passing through an extremely difficult phase on the economic front,’ said Mukherjee, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1859 HRS, JUNE 09, 2014