India’s new finance minister unveils three-point growth agenda

jaitleyTaking charge of Asia’s third largest economy, India’s new Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley has spelt out his three-point agenda that includes restoring growth, containing inflating and reducing fiscal deficit.

Immediately after assuming charge of the finance ministry May 27, Jaitley, veteran lawyer and senior BJP leader, flagged off the challenges facing the Indian economy and unveiled a plan for economic rejuvenation in the days ahead. “The challenges are very obvious. We have to restore the pace of growth, contain inflation, and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation itself,” he said.

“I am conscious of the fact that I am taking over at a very challenging time particularly when there is a need to rebuild the confidence of the Indian online casino economy…”

Alluding to clear majority the Bharatiya Janata Party got in India’s parliamentary elections, winning 288 seats, Jaitley underlined that the stability of the new government will invigorate global confidence in the India growth story.  “The mandate with which our government has received has an inbuilt hope in it…the political change itself sends a strong signal to the global community as also the domestic investors. I think over the next two months by expediting decision making processes we will be able to build on that.”

Jaitley also indicted that the new government will be doing a balancing act to square imperatives of growth and containing inflation.

India had registered over 9 per cent annual growth rate till the 2008 global financial crisis triggered a downward slide. In the current financial year, the growth rate is expected to be 5.5 per cent. The new government is looking to restore growth rate to 8-9 per cent in the next 2-3 years.

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