Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16.
Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16.
New Delhi:
Terming India's GDP number as -"overstated-", Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Strategist Ruchir Sharma has called for more private investment for the economy to get back on track.
-"I think India's GDP data is overstated,-" Sharma told PTI. Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, taking the overall GDP expansion to a 5-year high of 7.6 per cent for the fiscal. Sharma seemed fine with the overall investment in India, but -"it has largely been supported by the government-".
-"The private sector investment is still not picking up in India,-" he noted, linking low sustainable inflation to -"very high-" level of investment. RBI's decision to bring inflation to 5 per cent this year, he said, is in line with emerging market economies' average.
-"If you look at all successful economies of the world... China, Korea, Taiwan all grew very rapidly when their inflation rates were low. -"There is no economy which does well with high inflation rates. So, you know all miracle economies. In these countries, inflation rates were below emerging market economies' average,-" Sharma noted.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India initiative, Sharma underscored the importance of market share gains because China is -"low on exports and becoming more expensive, their wages have gone up a lot and countries that are benefiting are Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia-".
In the same breath, Sharma cautioned that -"we should keep our expectations in check-". -"I have always said about India, this is a country which always disappoints the optimist and pessimist,-" he added. According to Sharma, higher FDI flows into India is -"a very positive story-".
