Pranab calls for policies to protect India from global turmoil
21 Jan 2012
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the government will have to take policy measures to shield the Indian economy from global headwinds.
"On account of the global impact, the Indian economy was facing areas of concern and to address them appropriate policy instruments were required," Mukherjee said at a pre-budget meeting with members of the parliamentary consultative committee.
The government is expected to unveil measures to spur investment, particularly in infrastructure and agriculture, in the budget.
GDP growth in India is expected to fall to 7 per cent during 2011-12, compared to 8.5 per cent in the previous fiscal on account of domestic factors such as high inflation and policy uncertainty and the global economic slowdown.
Mukherjee said the global crisis of 2008 and the ongoing euro zone crisis had to led to problems of high inflation and deceleration in growth.
"The volatility of international prices, particularly fuel, posed serious challenges on the inflation front," he said, according to a finance ministry statement.
