Piyush Goyal has said the party is consulting Panagariya while fleshing out their economic programmes.

In his report card on Narendra Modi, economist Arvind Panagariya said there is no doubt whatsoever regarding Gujarat's superior performance in industrialisation, agriculture and overall growth.

Now, BJP treasurer and member of the team drafting the party's economic agenda and manifesto for the Lok Sabha election 2014, Piyush Goyal, has said the party is consulting Panagariya while fleshing out their economic programmes.

Goyal, speaking to The Economic Times, said he was among the party's leaders talking to Panagariya for his inputs on various policy issues for nearly two years now.

“We are soliciting ideas from highly placed economists like Arvind Panagariya and I personally have been engaging with him for the last two years. I once went to University of Columbia to spend half a day with him. We need eminent people to give us good ideas and both within and outside the country people are continuously engaging with us,” Goyal told The Economic Times.

Among the policy issues they have discussed, Goyal said, are the party’s agenda on investment, job creation and a crackdown on corruption, procedural lapses and inefficiencies. Consumer product multinationals could have cause for concern, said the report, since it appears that the BJP would like to target what it calls rampant misuse of royalty provisions. Sending out huge sums as royalty on things such as soap and detergent will be unacceptable, Goyal said.

Land acquisition, especially for large-scale industrial investments, quick clearances for projects -- these are something the Gujarat government has flagged as a "model", and are likely to feature prominently in the BJP's manifesto too. Goyal said Modi's thrust will be to the manufacturing and infrastructure building sectors and unlocking complex procedures for permissions.