Finance Minister P Chidambaram: India Economy to Pick Up Pace

Finance Minister P Chidambaram sees the Indian economy doing better in the second half of the fiscal year than in the first six months — perhaps well enough to mark a revival after the slump in the year to March —buoyed by core sector growth, higher exports and credit expansion to some sectors.

“I think it is fair to say that growth will pick up in the second half and, let’s see, anything higher than 5% and closer to 5.5% should be considered very satisfactory,” he said on Wednesday in Srinagar, where he was attending the platinum jubilee celebrations of Jammu & Kashmir Bank.

“Let’s wait for a couple of months, but I’m sure that the second half will be better than the first half.” Chidambaram’s comments came as India has been seeking to boost the economy through a series of measures after growth fell to a 10-year low of 5% in 2012-13.

Growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year came in at 4.4% and an Economic Times Intelligence Group survey indicates a dismal September quarter for corporate earnings.

IndiaTimes

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