Skip to main content

Indian economy growing fastest: Jaitley on Rajan's remarks

By
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has virtually rebutted RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s remarks that India is ‘one-eyed king in the land of blind’ saying compared to the rest of the world, the Indian economy was growing much faster and, in fact, the fastest.
At 7.5 per cent growth rate any other country in the world would be celebrating but it is a tribute to India’s growth story that at this rate “we are still impatient because we know that our potential is to do distinctively better”, he said.
Jaitley was reacting to a question by CNBC TV18 on Rajan’s remarks last week that at 7.5 per cent growth rate India seemed to be ‘one eyed king in the land of blind’.
“Compared to the rest of the world we are growing much faster, in fact the fastest. Compared to our own potential, we can do better,” he said.
On the potential to do distinctively better, Jaitley said, “I see a couple of variables (like good monsoon and reforms) — if they work to our advantage, we can do much better.” “Assuming we have a moderate monsoon or a good monsoon, I am sure we will improve upon our growth rates but I see no difficulty in maintaining the present one because of the thrust on the kind of economic activity going on in India, public investment, foreign direct investment, increased demand,” he said.
As regards reforms, he said that the momentum must continue and expressed hope that Goods and Services Tax (GST) will get through with numbers changing for the better in the Rajya Sabha. “So, if legislations like bankruptcy, legislations like GST, we are able to see-through and our ability to impact on investor confidence will also increase,” Jaitley said.
He parried questions on government planning to give extension to Rajan whose term is coming to an end in September but did mention that RBI has done fairly well.
In last one and half year, RBI has reduced interest rate by 1.50 per cent and the rates can come down further if there is good monsoon and inflation remains under control.
“Once the prices came under control, I think it was incumbent and this was a national expectation that the rates should go down... I am sure if this trend of containing inflation continues, we can hope for a better interest rate regime which in turn will have a spiral effect on improving upon India’s productivity and generate more activity,” he said.
Business Standard New Delhi,20th April 2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more