RENEWED CHEER

The Indian economy has manoeuvred choppy waters, and appears to be in a comfortable position at the moment

A midst the gloom enveloping the global economy currently and closer to home our neighbours - Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan - there comes a heartening piece of news that India is headed in the right direction.

Leading global firm Morgan Stanley has said that India is likely to be the fastest-growing Asian economy this fiscal (FY23).

The second piece of good news is that India’s retail inflation moved southward in the month of July, which will provide some respite to the country’s apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) though inflation still remains on the higher side and is a cause for concern.

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said that inflation in the country is still unacceptably and uncomfortably high. But the good news of inflation sliding in July should be welcomed.

Another important development that needs highlighting is the statement of former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, not known to be very favourably disposed towards the present Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Rajan has said that the country’s apex bank, the RBI, has done well in increasing reserves and handling inflation.

“We have sufficient foreign exchange reserves. The RBI has done a good job in increasing the reserves. We are not having problems like Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Our foreign debts are also low,” added Rajan.

What this translates into is that the two things - healthy foreign exchange reserves and low external debt - combine to make India resilient and strong to counter price shocks.