By IANS,
New Delhi/Mumbai : Following are some of the comments of policy-makers, India Inc. and economists on the Indian economy growing at the slowest pace in over two years at 6.9 percent in the quarter ended September:
Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister:
Had it been 10 years ago, this would have elated me, but today I cannot have that satisfaction because we reached the higher trajectory of growth, from there we are slipping.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission:
My expectation is that it (GDP growth) may end up being about the same in third quarter (October-December) and perhaps in the fourth quarter it will improve. The growth rate is going to be between 7-7.5 percent this fiscal.
Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):
A significant pull-down in investments is apparent and this can take the overall economy down further, since there are very few developments in the country which can be termed as confidence boosters. In such situations, the importance of sentiments cannot be overemphasized.
Rajiv Kumar, secretary general, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI):
FICCI estimates that the GDP growth in the current fiscal will now be in the range of 7-7.1 percent with significant downside risks. In fact, given that the first half growth rate has been 7.3 percent, it is now amply clear that even the 7.6 percent forecast by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 2011-12 is clearly on the higher side.
Arun Singh, senior economist, Dun and Bradstreet India:
This slow-down is majorly due to high inflation, interest rates, uncertainty in global economy, policy and reforms paralysis. The declining in the mining sector is a major concern which can lead to increase in input costs for many companies. RBI is in a policy dilemma, as increase in interest rates has not led to major decline in inflation and now the growth rate is also being affected due to it.
D.S. Rawat, secretary general, Assocham:
The RBI should start cutting bank interest rates so that cost of credit comes down. Due to near double-digit inflation, the cost of raw materials has shot up, resulting in slow-down in factories’ output.