Finance minister Arun Jaitley said there was an increased determination within the country to face challenges and accelerate the pace of reforms in order to continue to grow.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said there was an increased determination within the country to face challenges and accelerate the pace of reforms in order to continue to grow. “The constituency within India that supports reform is much bigger than those that oppose it. Our growth model is based on concerns to eradicate poverty,” he said at the Advancing Asia Conference here on Sunday.
The GST Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending ratification by the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. After it is approved by the Rajya Sabha, the legislation needs to be ratified by half of the 29 states in order to roll out GST.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said “the reform to transform” mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday at the conference was a clear sign that India was on the move using the backbone of digital innovation.
On quota reforms, Ms Lagarde said the large emerging market economies were now in the top 10 list of members, including India. The IMF had recently ratified quota reforms, giving more voting powers to emerging nations, including India. “It is clear to us that... (it is) Asia where growth is originating and going to come from India and in the years to come,” she said.
She termed India’s fiscal position as “appropriate and sensible”. Ms Lagarde added: “We consider that the fiscal stance adopted by India is exactly appropriate and a very sensible objective that has been set. It’s just the right one that has been set under the given circumstances.” She said the IMF also highly valued the investments being made in major infrastructure projects “because we believe it is the right way to stimulate short-term growth”. India being a net importer of oil and gas, it is using the windfall from low energy cost to finance infrastructure projects, which is the right stance from the IMF’s perspective.
Unconventional monetary policies of central banks in Europe and Japan received an endorsement from the IMF, even as policymakers from emerging markets including RBI chief Raghuram Rajan warned that such policies were increasing risks for the global economy. Ms Lagarde said countries should continue with unconventional monetary policies if they were accompanied by structural reforms and low inflation. “Monetary policy is needed but (it) cannot be the only game in town,” she added.
