Investors need not panic as the new government will be committed to a "healthy capital market", Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
"The policies of the new government will be to promote balanced social and economic development, responsible macroeconomic policies with strong emphasis on agriculture, employment and viable social safety net," he said immediately after being invited to form the government by President A P J Abdul Kalam.
Singh, accompanied by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said, "Economic reforms with emphasis on human element will continue. We will give to the world and our people a model of economic reforms."
On his first priorities as PM, Singh said, "We will take the process of development forward and create new opportunities for poor and downtrodden people to participate in the development process."
The development process will be in tandem with emphasis on creation of job opportunities, he added.
Details of the new government's policies will be spelled out in the Common Minimum Programme, he said.
"We can take forward the process of social and economic development to realise the vision of Rajiv Gandhi that 21st century should be India's Century," he added.
Singh said that they had made available to the President documents with regard to the support extended to him by various political parties. The appointment letter, which he displayed for the benefit of cameramen, noted that he had the majority support in Lok Sabha.
More from rediff