Time for India to get on fast track: Ahluwalia

Manipal, Karnataka, Nov 3 : Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said with economic slowdown easing, it was now time for India to get on the fast track.

Speaking after inaugurating T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) Knowledge Centre near here, he said the country had witnessed nine per cent growth in the economy before the slowdown, testifying to the success of the economic reforms.

''In the first year of the crisis, our growth slowed down to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09.'' ''In the current year 2009-10, we are battling the combined effect of the continuing global slowdown and a truly unusual drought. We expect the growth in the current year will be around 6.5 per cent,'' he added.

Mr Ahluwalia said while this growth is distinctly lower than in the pre-crisis years, it is actually better than what we experienced in the ten years from 1992 to 2002.

''In fact, we have performed much better than most other countries. Indeed, India is the second fastest growing country in the world today after China.'' He stressed there were new challenges to achieve the growth rate.

In this direction, financial sector has to support multi-dimensional economic transformation, hopefully, for next 20 years.

This challenge essentially required huge investment by the financial sector in the development of infrastructure like roads, power, telecommunication water and urban infrastructure.

He noted that only 30 per cent of the Indian population lived in urban area which is slow growth.

In the coming years, this is going to increase, posing big challenge of making huge investments in urban infrastructure.

For this challenge of providing infrastructure to urban and rural municipalities, both the Centre and the State Governments should borrow from financial institutions, he said.

''We hope to do much better in 2010-11 when the world will be on a path to recovery and we will have the beneficial impact of a normal monsoon.'' ''Our growth rate should be back somewhere between seven and eight per cent in 2010-11,'' he said.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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