Economist moots steps to catalyse growth

“We need to attack the system of delivery in our anti-poverty programmes that is riddled with leakages and pilferages and structure of government functioning needs to be reformed to bring down transaction costs,” he said addressing a Ficci seminar.

These along with high savings and investment rate of 38 per cent will be sufficient to enable India to reach the 10 per cent growth rate mark within a few years, he added.

While the stimulus packages have helped in the economic revival in recent months, certain schemes like NREGS, debt waiver and placing more money in the hands of people through the pay commission recommendations, have enabled the country to withstand the global economic crisis in a much stronger way than the developed western economies, Basu said.
The high savings and investment rate, he said, had put India on a good wicket, and this rate could rise to 40 per cent given the propensity to save and invest of its youthful population. Such a rate of savings and investment will trigger a sustained growth of the economy, he added.