On the sidelines of the oath-taking ceremony of Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said despite Moody’s downgrade of India's growth forecast, he hoped the economy would do better than last year.
“It [Moody’s projection] is a cause for concern but one should not draw unwarranted conclusions,” Dr. Singh told reporters when asked to comment on the rating agency’s research arm scaling down its forecast for the country’s economic growth this fiscal to 5.5 per cent.
“The fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong … [its] investments and savings are among the highest in the world. I am hopeful, we will do still better than the 6.5 per cent growth performance of last year,” the Prime Minister said.
Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Ansari, who was elected last week for a second tenure of five years.
Mr. Ansari is India’s 12th Vice-President and is only the second person after Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan to get a second term. By virtue of his position as Vice-President, Mr. Ansari would be the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
Dr. Singh, the former President Pratibha Patil, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, and several dignitaries, including Union Ministers and Governors, attended the ceremony.
Mr. Ansari defeated NDA candidate Jaswant Singh with a thumping majority in the August 7 election for the post. He had polled 490 votes against 238 cast in favour of Mr. Singh.
‘Mere bravado’
Separately, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley accused the Prime Minister of being in “denial mode” on the state of the Indian economy.
“The patient does not want to be treated. He is convinced that he is not unwell...The Prime Minister's statement that fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong comes as a surprise. It clearly shows that the Prime Minister is living in denial about the real state of the India economy.”
“Wake-up call”
Mr. Jaitley said the government should treat Moody’s assessment as a “wake-up call” and the Prime Minister must respond to it. “Economy is not run by bravado,” he said.
Keywords: Indian economy, Moody's downgrade, economic growth, India, Manmohan Singh
Indian Economy is already in doldrums because of various scams:Forest wealth,2G, Mining, etc., It is unfortunate that people at the top really are not serious about bringing a radical change. At one stage or other, the present Govt. will have to act strictly and as per the policies, and procedures. Otherwise, with the existing systems, Corruption will rule every state, allowing politicians to continue to make money in collusion with officials in various places. There is no use blaming Ministry of Finance later. The present Govt. should work harder, so that it can save itself.
Please act with extreme caution. We must not look at the world with American or any other country's rating agencies. We must make sure that the reins of control are firmly in our hand. No country is coming or going anywhere for charity. Everyone has their own selfish interest, be it economical, political or strategic. India has tremendous potential which is being skewed and shown to be otherwise to tweak the policies to favour others. As the previous FM did not budge, Pranab Mukherjee was 'ELEVATED' to be The President so that the next FM can take 'decisions'. Now the PM has joined the bandwagon. We are on our way to TOTAL BANKRUPTCY if WISE decisions are not made. Each country has their own statistics like population, produce, prices and politics. Rather that serving interests of others, Serve your own interests FIRST! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!
these credit rating agency's whimsical reaction are indeed a matter of worry but not for India anymore since we all are aware of the fact that the entire globe in grappling with the economic downturn and most of the developing countries along with the reputed banking institutions have been downgraded. The only thing which i find intrigued by is the capricious nature of the reputed institutions,which is indeed sounds biased at times. Most importantly why so much crticizm of india, why such a vehement appeal all the time to lower the credit rating, are there agencies oblivious that in these testing times we need strong suppoet of entire globe nt the scathing and terse remarks which can further exacerbate the ongoing problems
A different opinion says - the fundamental weakness lies in weak government.Economy and politics can't be separated.There is a strong need of a powerful and assertive governance and clearance of pending bills and policy implementation.Just to stay in power by any means will be dangerous for UPA itself in long term.Better show some sincere work or be remembered as the scam tainted government for the rest of the future.
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