Fitch representatives meet Finmin officials

Representatives of Fitch agency today met finance ministry officials to discuss the country's rating prospects and raised concerns about fiscal deficit.
"Ministry officials allayed concerns raised by (rating agency) Fitch on the fiscal deficit front and reiterated the commitment to contain it at 4.8 per cent of the GDP," sources said.
The meeting was attended by Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, along with other senior officials.
Among other matters, sources said the Ministry expressed confidence that the current account deficit (CAD) will be brought down below USD 50 billion dollar or less than 2.5 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal as curbs on gold imports are reaping results and rupee has been range-bound.

Last fiscal, the CAD touched a record high of USD 88.2 billion or 4.8 per cent of the GDP mainly due to high oil and gold import. The high CAD also put pressure on domestic currency.
To contain gold import, the government hiked duty to 10 per cent on inward shipment. As a result, gold imports came down sharply to 19.3 tonnes in November from 162 tonnes in May.

The Finance Ministry officials also asserted that investment would increase as Cabinet Committee on Investment and Project Monitoring Group has cleared a number of projects.
As many as 287 stalled projects worth Rs 5.5 lakh crore have already been cleared and 250 such projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore are expected to be approved shortly.

Indian economy grew by 4.5 per cent in 2012-13 and is expected to grow at less than 5 per cent in the current fiscal. During the first half of the current fiscal, GDP growth was at 4.6 per cent.
The agency currently has accorded stable outlook on India's sovereign rating at BBB-.