RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that there are several healthy developments in the economy, shielding India from the global slowdown headwind. Shaktikanta Das added that India is one of the least indebted countries in the world, citing the World Bank. Speaking at Bloomberg India Economic Forum 2019, the RBI Governor said that India’s ratio of exports and imports to GDP have improved. However, there are several areas of concern for external sector management, he added. The ongoing slowdown has now been unanimously attributed to the lack of demand and investment, however, the RBI Governor has now blamed the lack of demand for the decline of imports as well.
In a note in the September bulletin of the RBI, Shaktikanta Das had said that the trust of the consumers that the services are fairly priced, the trust of the investors that the stakeholders are acting in their best collective interest, the trust of the regulators that the audited financial statements do represent a fair and reasonable assessment of the activities of a firm – all have intangible but substantial contribution to national savings and financial stability. Meanwhile, India’s portfolio flows have turned highly volatile, he added in today’s speech.
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Talking about the RBI’s and the government’s steps towards reviving the economy from the ongoing slowdown, the RBI Governor highlighted the evolution of the financial market in India, aggressive liberalisation of the FDI policy, making the FPI into more investor-friendly way of investment, a good response on Voluntary Retention Route (VRR), merger of NRI and FPI route for seamless investments and up-gradation of External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) norms to make it more favourable. Adding to it, Shaktikanta Das has completely denied calling the present slowdown scenario as a ‘recession’.