India’s growth to top last year’s, China hit minimal

While the slowdown had hurt stock markets globally, the impact on other parts of India’s economy has been muted because it was not a significant part of China’s supply chain

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday he hopes the economy will grow faster this year than last, and expects that Asia’s third-largest economy will not see a big hit from China’s slowdown.

Mr. Jaitley, who is on a road trip meeting foreign investors in Hong Kong and Singapore, also said his government’s “ambitious” privatisation programme had been slowed by global market volatility.

“We would have moved much faster but the markets have been in somewhat of a turmoil,” he told reporters after giving a key note address at an investor conference.

India has already delayed share sales in state-run oil firm ONGC, hurting the chances of raising the targeted $11 billion from privatisation efforts this financial year which ends in March 2016.

“Do you hit the market when it is unpredictable or stabilised?” he asked.

While fears of a China-led global slowdown have roiled financial markets in recent weeks, Mr. Jaitley said India stood to benefit from cooling growth in China because it led to weaker oil and commodity prices, and put India on the map as a potential alternative investment destination.

While the slowdown had hurt stock markets globally, the impact on other parts of India’s economy has been muted because it was not a significant part of China’s supply chain.

India’s economy grew 7.3 per cent last year. The government is aiming for 8-10 per cent annual economic growth, the junior finance minister said last week.

Mr. Jaitley also said that a draft of India’s bankruptcy law was almost ready and he hoped to submit it to parliament in the near future, but did not specify a time frame.

Kindly send reply or comments on this topic to [email protected]
Source:Thehindu

Finance Minister Of India