Turn crisis into an opportunity for India: PM

Looks at improving investment climate

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took stock of the stocks and currency markets after the biggest ever one-day sell off in Indian indices, and asked officials to work towards turning the worldwide crisis into an opportunity for India.

The prime minister held a high-level meeting with Finance Ministry officials, during which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha gave a presentation on the current economic situation, in the wake of global market crash triggered by a precipitous fall in Chinese indices.

Modi is understood to have asked for an increase in public expenditure in the infrastructure sector so as to improve the investment climate in India.

Sources who attended the meeting, said that in the coming days, there will be more meetings at the PMO level on increasing government spending in order to up economic activities. Separately, Jaitley too discussed the market situation with the RBI and the Sebi.

Briefing reporters late in the evening, Jaitley said, “The prime minister was of the opinion that our economy was strong, but more needed to be done”. He said that the government and the RBI were monitoring the situation very closely, and that the markets will settle after the “transient and temporary” external factors ebbed.

The benchmark stock indices fell close to 6 per cent with Nifty slipping below 8,000, and Sensex sliding below 26,000 mark on Monday. Rupee too fell to two-year low of 66.64 to a dollar. The global markets cracked after Shanghai fell as much as 9 per cent.

“There is not a single domestic factor in India which has either contributed to it or added to it. These are external factors. I have not the least doubt that this turbulence is transient and temporary in nature. The markets will settle down,” Jaitley said at an event here. Jaitley noted that China’s currency devaluation were creating ripples across the global markets, but said that India’s economic fundamentals were strong.


Finding the silver lining...


     PM Narendra Modi sees opportunities  in stock market fall
    Asks for rise in public expenditure in the infra sector
    More meetings planned to discuss improving economic activities
    Govt feels the current scene is transcient and temporary in nature