Gurumurthy calls for funding fiscal deficit to support economic growth

The comments by Gurumurthy, co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, comes days before the RBI's crucial board meeting on Monday

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board member S Gurumurthy on Friday favoured funding the fiscal deficit to support economic growth at a time when banks are going through stressed times.

“Bank credit to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was down from 10.9 per cent in 2010 to 5.7 per cent in 2015 and 4.8 per cent in 2016. Fiscal deficit also came down in this period. With the result, the aggregate money in the economy halved from 17.4 per cent of the GDP to 8.4 per cent. I suggested to the government that when credit goes down deficit should rise,” he