In a bid to seek suggestions on policy measures taken by the government to boost the economic growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with many business leaders and entrepreneurs over the past week, reports Economic Times.

In the meetings, PM Modi sought their feedback on various sectors as well as suggestions on policy measures to boost growth and accelerate the drive toward a $5 trillion economy.

“Each of these meetings lasted more than two hours and saw a candid exchange of ideas as to how the government and industry can work together to improve business sentiment, investment and boost creation of jobs,” a person aware of the deliberations was quoted in the report as saying.

According to the report, the industry leaders that attended the meetings include Uday Kota, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri, IT industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai, ex-finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Tech Mahindra MD C P Gurnani, Intel India general manager Nivruti Rai and TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan.

More such meetings are planned in the days ahead between the PM and industry leaders.

These were one-on-one sectoral meetings with the prime minister that enabled him to get information about the ground situation, said a person who attended one of them.

“He wanted to listen, and encouraged us to come forward with recommendations for the economy,” said Gurnani of Tech Mahindra.

“Some of the specific suggestions were around setting up an AI university, judicial reforms, etc,” Gurnani added.

In a bid to facilitate frank discussion, not many government officials were present at these meetings.

“He told us he had not invited us to praise him or the government but to hear our views and what’s missing, what could be done and how to unlock and accelerate growth and development,” said Saurabh Srivastava, chairman of the Indian Angel Network.

“It was not a defensive meeting. He was not justifying anything and told us to feel free to be critical,” he said.

The development comes after India’s economic growth slowed down to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the September quarter.

To revive the economy, the PM Modi-led government has announced a number of measures, including sharp cut in corporate tax.

IT industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai said that suggestions were made to PM Modi as to why the slowdown happened and what measures need to be undertaken to revive it.

The feedback and suggestions of the industry leaders are being sought as the government aims to boost GDP to $5 trillion by 2025 from about $2.8 trillion at present.