Press Trust of India
Singapore, Sept 19: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said despite a global slowdown and its impact on countries, India remains insulated from the economic fallout and stands out as a “brighter spot”. “India is not a part of the Chinese production chain, significantly. In fact, the two segments – commodities and oil – that been adversely affected certainly don’t adversely impact India (which is) a net importer,” Jaitley said last night at The Singapore Summit 2015 here.”Therefore, the more we see a low price regime, the more India continues to benefit. Notwithstanding the slowdown globally, we do stand out as one of the brighter spots,” he was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
Prices of major commodities like oil and other base metals have dropped significantly on the back of slowdown seen in Chinese economy. While sharp fall in commodity prices are likely to impact exporting nations like West Asian economies, Russia among others, it will benefit importing nations like India. As India is not overly dependent on earnings from commodities, the impact of Chinese slowdown is likely to be minimal.
Allaying concerns about the pace of the BJP-led Indian regime’s economic reforms, the Union Minister said the government has moved “fairly rapidly”. “I welcome a certain amount of restlessness,” the Singapore Daily quoted Jaitley as saying. “I think the government has moved fairly rapidly. The government’s direction is absolutely clear,” he stressed as he told a gathering of around 400 global business leaders, investors and government officials that headway has been made on four fronts – labour, tax, power supply and land reforms. He also added that the Indian government has solved most of the “legacy issues”.
Jaitley, who arrived here Friday, called on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and met Foreign Minister K Shanmugam, state investor Temasek Holdings and international investors during a day-long series of meetings.
