The Hindu : National : Future bright for Indian economy, says Rangarajan

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Future bright for Indian economy, says Rangarajan

Special Correspondent

Fiscal slowdown has not affected India much

HYDERABAD: Forecasting a brighter future for the country’s economy by 2009-10 end, C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister, said that if a consistent growth of four per cent in agriculture and nine per cent in the industrial and services sectors were maintained over the next two decades, it would propel India into the comity of developed nations.

In a talk on ‘Challenges before the Indian Economy’ at the College of Defence Management (CDM) here on Tuesday, he said the fiscal slowdown had actually not affected India as much as it had hit other industrially-advanced and developed countries.

He said that in the latter half of the fiscal 2008-09 and in the first half of 2009-10, things had certainly improved and there was not much cause for alarm.

Speaking in a lighter vein, he made a distinction between recession and depression.

“If your neighbour loses his/her job, it is recession and if you lose your own job, its depression,” going on to add that India was much better off than most other countries as far as the financial meltdown was concerned.

Among causes for concern were the decreased agricultural productivity because of unfavourable seasonal conditions.

However, while kharif yields of food grains dipped, things were expected to pick up during the current rabi season, he said.

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