New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said market turbulence caused by the China situation was not a cause of worry for India, while the crisis should be converted into an opportunity to grow by speeding up the reforms.
“Can we convert this (markets turmoil) into an opportunity? Now can we? Wherever we are lacking in further reforms, can we just speed them up? (Can we) expedite our own expenditure?” he asked while adressing an event here of the Society of Indian Law Firms.
The Bombay Stock Exchange experienced its stepest ever fall on Monday, of 1624.51 points or 5.94 percent. The rupee also hit a fresh two-year low on Monday of 66.47 to a dollar.
Jaitley said China was responsible for almost half the global growth in the last few years and it was switching from manufacturing to services.
“Their low-cost manufacturing products were not selling to that extent. They had built surplus capacity and not been able to serve. They are trying to switch from export-oriented economy to consumer-centric economy,” he said.
Noting that Chinese growth figures were not even close to the pessimistic projections, Jaitley said: “Suddenly, one day, you have a collapse from Japan, the West coast. All markets collapse.”
The finance minister on Monday also stressed the need to maintain course on economic reforms in the face of such “transient crisis”.
—IANS