By NNN-PTI
New Delhi : From relative obscurity not so long ago, India found itself taking the global centre stage with its enterprises essaying epic deals that redeemed a nation’s honour but it could not build consensus at home on moving ahead with economic reforms.
The year 2007 threw exceptional challenges before the government – high inflation, excess foreign funds inflow, threat of overheating – but none that could not be overcome.
However, nothing compares to Tata’s conquest of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, which includes the remnants of British Steel – a company that tried to thwart the Indian firm’s attempt at making the alloy a century ago.
The country, which this year celebrated 60 years of independence from the British, established itself as a global force without whose agreement the world trade talks would remain incomplete.
But within the country, there was no agreement between the government and its Left allies on economic reforms, be it opening up the financial sector or liberalising FDI in retail sector. They also did not see eye-to-eye on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
The deal aims to give India access to American nuclear fuel and equipment to help meet its soaring energy needs, but the government’s key Left allies are fiercely opposed to it, contending that it would compromise the country’s sovereignty.
The deal, known as the 123 agreement, almost brought down the government – speculation about which caused a huge crash in the stock market.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram predicted a nine per cent growth of the Indian economy in the current fiscal and dismissed fears that a global depression may affect India.
In a review of the country’s economic performance during the year coming to a close, he told PTI in an interview that the challenges in the new year were the external financial sector and the food front domestically.
“It has been a good year for the economy despite uncertainty in the external world and some internal difficulties, especially on the food front. The year will return a rate of growth of 9 per cent,” Chidambaram said.
In the last four years of the UPA government, the economy has clocked an average 8.6 per cent growth and maintained that a five-year average of 8.6 per cent “is by all means an impressive record”.
However, the Finance Minister emphasised that he was not minimising the challenges ahead.
“The external sector remains uncertain. In fact, the uncertainty may have deepened in the last few months because of unravelling crisis in several segments of the financial sector.
“Domestically on the food front we keep our fingers crossed on rice procurement, wheat production and procurement. If all these turn out to be favourable then I think the pressures will ease. There is no no question of relaxing the vigil on the food front because food is the most important driver of prices in India,” he said.