Pointing out that India's gold import surged to USD 60-62 billion in last fiscal, the Minister regretted that people are investing in gold with the expectation that the value of their investment would appreciate.
"Quantum of import of gold ... Is a clear indication (that) large section of community...Want (to) investment in dead asset only with expectation that value would appreciate", he said while speaking at Zee television award function.
The Minister further said "time is ripe to motivate our educated upper middle class to climb from saving mode to wealth generation mode.
"...My request to financial analysts and other experts and leaders in this field is to ensure than we can create confidence in market, spread financial literacy and merit of investment could be widely spread", he said.
The Minister added that the government is committed to make India an investment-friendly destination and financial power house of the world.
"If India can built on its economic strength, it can be a source of stability for the world economy and safe destination for restless global capital which can help speed our developmental process," the Minister said.
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On the economic issues, the Minister said, "the most important challenge before the country is to regain and then sustain 8-9 per annum."
At the same time, Mukherjee said, there is a need to maintain the basic parameters of healthy development, moderate rate of inflation, fiscal consolidation and current account deficit and obviously higher growth in exports. MORE