Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday cautioned that it was ‘too early’ to say that the global economic crisis had been contained but expressed confidence that the situation would throw up new opportunities for India in the future.

Addressing a summit in New Delhi, Gandhi chose not to touch on controversial issues and instead focussed on the financial meltdown and its impact on India.

The 62-year old UPA Chairperson made it clear that the Government believed in an open economy “but not an unregulated one” and not at the expense of social justice.

Assuring investors that there was “no need to panic”, Gandhi said that liberalisation must be pursued sensibly and there was no need to get back to the regime of controls.

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