It’s India’s moment, Chak de India: IMF chief

“It’s India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” This ringing endorsement of an upswing in India’s economic fortunes from the IMF chief should be music to the ears of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his core economic team, who are shepherding the second-generation economic reforms in Asia’s third largest economy.

Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, has betted big on the India growth story and underlined that India continues to be a bright spot when the global economic recovery continues to be “too slow, too brittle and too lopsided.”

Downbeat on the prospects of global economy, but upbeat on India, Lagarde reiterated the IMF’s forecast on the world economy, saying that more than six years after the global financial crisis, the world economy is expected to grow by just 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2015.

“This is still below what could have been expected after such a crisis,” she said in a speech at LSR College in New Delhi on March 16.

Ahead of her visit to India, the IMF chief said in an interview that India has the potential to emerge as one of the world’s top economies.

“I want a larger quota of India at the IMF. This is India’s moment; seize it. Chak de India!” she said.

However, the IMF chief pitched for a greater role for women in the India success story. “33 percent female participation rate in India is lower than global average of 50 percent. India’s female labor participation rate has been declining since 2005, and this should be on the front page of your press.”

Author Profile

India Writes Network: India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) is an emerging think tank and a media-publishing company focused on international affairs & the India Story. Centre for Global India Insights is the research arm of India Writes Network. To subscribe to India and the World, write to editor@indiawrites.org. A venture of TGII Media Private Limited, a leading media, publishing and consultancy company, IWN has carved a niche for balanced and exhaustive reporting and analysis of international affairs. Eminent personalities, politicians, diplomats, authors, strategy gurus and news-makers have contributed to India Writes Network, as also “India and the World,” a magazine focused on global affairs.