India is considering regulations in the financial sector to protect the poor from market fluctuations, finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee said in Washington. ?If we do not regulate economic activity at all, we can have poor people getting trapped in debt and a repeat of the crisis of 2007,? he said. ?On the other hand, if we over regulate, we will kill innovation and harm economic growth,? Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee also said he is confident that the Indian economy will grow by 8-10% in the coming decade. ?Sustained high growth will catapult India into one of the three largest economies in the coming decades. The Indian economy will be one of the nodes of global economic momentum and stability,? Mukherjee said, adding, ?Our substantive GDP (gross domestic product) growth will be accompanied by direct inclusion of the underprivileged, who will in turn contribute to our rising growth trajectory.?
The US had addressed some of these concerns with the Dodd-Frank legislation, he said. ?We, in India are also exploring new ideas in financial regulation that protect the vulnerable but allow markets to flourish. There is lot that can be learnt from the best practices in one part of the world to guide policy response in the other,? he said.
?We, in India are also exploring new ideas in financial regulation that protect the vulnerable but allow markets to flourish. There is lot that can be learnt from the best practices in one part of the world to guide policy response in the other,? he said. Mukherjee also said he wanted monetary authorities to look at global structural imbalances. ?The huge build up of reserves in some countries and deficits elsewhere, massive trade surpluses in some and deep trade deficits in others are not sustainable,? he said.
Also, two days after a top US trade official indicated the Doha round of world trade talks might run into 2012, Mukherjee said there was a need to conclude the stalled Doha negotiations soon. ?We need to move on and have an early conclusion of the Doha trade round,? Mukherjee said at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in New York. On October 6, the US chief agricultural trade negotiator Isi Siddiqui had said in Brussels that America?s crop subsidy programme would be guided by the current Uruguay Round commitments if Doha round of trade talks did not reach a conclusion by 2012.
Pranabspeak
* Unfettered financial growth can have dangerous economic implications
* India is mulling new financial regulation to protect weaker sections
* Disparity among nations in forex reserves, deficits is not sustainable
* Central banks must play key role in supervising, regulating markets
* Doha trade talks must be concluded at the earliest
* To ensure growth, global structural imbalances must be addressed
* Markets without supervision are prone to asset price bubbles
* Indian economy is likely to expand 8-10% in the next decade
* India?s economy will be among the three largest in the coming decades
* India not waiting for trickle down effect to drive growth
* India?s growth will directly include underprivileged.
* Ample scope for collaboration between India, US in education.