Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, said a domestic-based approach could help the country come out of the current economic downturn.
?If I want to revive the economy, I will have to find areas of interest in the domestic sector, the rural economy, infrastructure and services sector. India should do this. China has already done this and has used its population as an asset rather than a liability,? Mukherjee said.
Defending decisions taken in the recent budget, he said he had not followed the predicted lines and did not depend on developed economies for growth. ?Exports can grow at the rate of 35% but I know it will take time. We have to see how we can generate demand and what response we can get from the industrial and service sectors and if we could equate these, I feel it could help us to come out of the current situation,? he said. Mukherjee was in Pune to receive the Lokmanya Tilak award 2009. The award has been instituted by the Tilak Smarak Trust. The minister said there were lessons one could draw from the past and find solutions to the problems of today.
?Who could believe that the US economy could be beaten to this extent by simple misadventures and decisions taken on subprime lending and mortgage lending. But it has actually happened. Now even the world experts and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cannot throw light on at what point of time we can come out of the current downturn,? he observed.
?Our national approach and experience in strategy has helped us come out, not totally insulated but substantially unhurt,? he said.
While trillions of dollars being pumped to revive banks in North America and Europe, because of domestic-based approach, our banking system was able to come out unhurt despite the global turmoil, he said.