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394403
Thu, 01/21/2016 - 06:42
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Economic Growth Of 7-7.5 Pct Not Good Enough: Indian Finance Minister

By Santhiran Munisamy NEW DELHI, Jan 21 (Bernama) -- Economic growth of between 7.0 and 7.5 per cent is not good enough and the country should do much better in an environment that currently favours growth, said Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "Fast is not good enough for India. We are growing at 7.0-7.5 per cent. In a more favourable environment, getting an extra 1.0-1.5 per cent is not difficult," he said in an interview with NDTV news channel on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Rationalisation of subsidies, one of India's biggest reforms, has helped the government re-plan its expenditure, he said, adding the fall in oil subsidies has also provided a lot of flexibility. "It is wrong to say the government is pocketing the bonanza from oil. We have been able to re-engineer government spending quite a bit," he told the news channel. The minister's statement came on a day the Sensex slipped 500 points to below the 24,000 mark for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's huge victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, Sanjeev Bhasin, executive vice chairman of domestic brokerage IIFL, said the carnage in the markets reflects the disappointment of foreign investors over the slow pace of economic reforms. Corporate earnings and domestic demand have remained sluggish, belying expectations of faster economic growth under PM Modi. But industrialist Sunil Mittal, who also participated in the discussion, said he was bullish on India and the "government policies are on the right track." -- BERNAMA

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