India impatient for growth, says Jaitley

The Narendra Modi government will step up reforms to attract more investment and fill up infrastructure deficit

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that the Narendra Modi government will step up reforms to attract more investment and fill up the infrastructure deficit, even as he asserted there is a “great amount of impatience” on the growth front.

Speaking at the India-UK Tech Summit in New Delhi, Jaitley said that unlike developing economies, voices seeking protectionism are almost absent as the economy expands.

“I think one of the great strengths of the Indian economy is that even though we are growing at the fastest rate than any major economy, but by our own standard we are still not satisfied. There is a great amount of impatience in India and a far greater amount of realisation that we can grow even faster,” he said.

“Therefore to reform more, to open more, to attract more investment, to expand more in manufacturing, (we need) to fill up the infrastructure deficit faster than what we have been doing,” the Finance Minister said.

As the $2.2 trillion Indian economy expands, it is “least influenced” by voices of protectionism, he said. 

“Normally it is the least developed and developing economies which have a tendency to cry for protectionism and that is a voice that’s almost not heard in India,” Jaitley said.

“We are looking to open out and that’s the being the direction of our economy,” he added.

Jaitley said many opportunities have been wasted in past and an aspirational nation doesn’t want to let go off any now.

“If we look at the areas where we have growth potential I think one obvious area is manufacturing. The share of manufacturing has to increase from the present 15 per cent to 25 per cent level and that’s where we will realise we are creating far more jobs and expanding far better,” he said.

Also, there is a huge potential to grow in the eastern India and rural areas have a deficit and offer a tremendous potential to invest, he said.

The Finance Minister further said that after deciding to quit the European Union, Britain is looking outside Europe and sees countries like India as one of its great future partners in trade and business.