Arun Jaitley on what India needs and why

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the country can continue with the high growth path with a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre. “If this path of high growth trajectory is to continue...if these higher growth, higher revenues and higher resources have to continue, better infrastructure objective has to be achieved. India needs a strong and decisive leadership at the Centre,” Jaitley said.

He said that a weak leadership could not have handled IL&FS with swiftness the way the present government did, thus averting a crisis in the making. The Board of beleaguered IL&FS was superseded by the government-appointed nominees led by well-known banker Uday Kotak as its chairman. Jaitley said being a net buyer of oil, a rise in global crude prices adversely impacts the country and hence the economy has to be resilient to deal with it.

Jaitley said that domestic policies of certain countries have spillover effects on India and hoped that such effects will not be everlasting and are transient in character. Jaitley said global oil prices have risen on account of artificial shortages and it has adversely impacted India. India imports 83% of its oil needs.

Talking about the political challenges facing the country, Jaitley said these are thrown up by unstable coalition and aspiring politicians, who want to acquire the top place. “Therefore we have to face that challenge by making our economy so resilient itself that we have the capacity to bear that challenge,” he added.

“Therefore, today what India needs is not individuals with lack of understanding of policies, lack of understanding of directions or inherently unstable coalition, but a government and leadership with absolute clarity about the direction so that this unique position which IMF refers to as a sweet spot in the world, this sweet spot we continue to occupy for the next two decades,” he said.

Jaitley said if India continues on the high growth path, then the country can get rid of poverty and can become a developed country. Indian economy grew at 8.2%in the April-June quarter.