Tough measures to bring down the fiscal deficit are not likely in the budget to be announced at the end of this month, the president and chief executive officer of Moody's Corporation, John Rutherfurd Jr, said today.
"This is probably a difficult time to expect very aggressive moves of the sort we have always indicated and want to see eventually," he said.
According to him, the security concerns for the country pertaining to the political tension in the subcontinent, and the global economic slowdown will be the main reasons for India not going aggressively into fiscal consolidation.
International rating agencies -- Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch -- have downgraded India's rating few months back due to the country's poor fiscal condition. The fiscal deficit of the central and the state governments has been close to nine per cent of GDP for the last two financial years and, in the current financial year, it is likely cross 10 per cent.
Rutherfurd, however, said that, though the fiscal deficit remains an area of concern, India has made progress in terms of growth in gross domestic product. "The GDP growth has slowed down in the recent past, but in a global context, it still remains higher than many countries," he said.
The CEO of Moody's Corporation feels India's growth will be revived following the recovery in the economies of the United States and major European countries. Despite the infrastructure bottlenecks, the country is likely to be counted among the developed countries in the next 10-25 years, he feels.
"For different industries, you need different kinds of infrastructure. India might not have the proper infrastructure for heavy industries, but it can really grow depending on the industries like information technology, biochemistry etc," Rurherfurd said.
