India cannot afford to relax on its efforts to promote growth and leverage fruits of this growth for fostering more equitable and inclusive development. This was stated by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, at the Delhi Economics Conclave jointly organised by the Finance Ministry and CII here today.
Admitting that both fiscal and monetary options are limited, Mr Mukherjee said the Government was looking at unlocking economic bottlenecks through other options, including new manufacturing policy, opening of foreign direct investment in retail and enactment of new direct taxes code to spur growth.
There is need for greater consensus to push through these initiatives, he added. Besides stepping up skill development, financial inclusion and infrastructure development will be high priority for the Government, he noted.
On inflation, Mr Mukherjee said that despite declining trend, headline inflation is still at an unacceptable high level.
He also highlighted private consumption and investment sentiments have weakened. His remarks on inflation are significant as it comes a day ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review on Friday.
The central bank is widely expected to pause its current monetary tightening stance.
The Finance Minister, the RBI Governor, Dr D . Subbarao and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, discussed the current economic challenges here on Wednesday.