The
year 2007 has been a very good one for India. Sensex
has reached new heights and corporate India has gone
global in its quest for expansion. Of course, inflation
is a matter of concern for the Indian economy at the
moment. Except this, there are no serious worries. The
US subprime crisis has not affected India; rather, some
opine that it will undoubtedly provide India an opportunity
to grow further. Although it is a matter of great psychological
satisfaction that Indian corporates have started acquiring
American and European companies, they need to be very
careful as mergers and acquisitions are not always a
success story.
India
as an economy has come a long way when we compare it
with the scenario prevailing before the opening up of
the economy. In fact, today `Brand India' is being well
recognized throughout the world. In 1991, economic conditions
in India were not very optimistic. It was stagnant at
3-4% GDP growth, inflation was as high as 16%, unemployment
problem was taking its toll on the economy, there was
nothing in the name of forex reserves, interest rates
were very high and hence unfavorable for industrial
growth, and foreign investment was not coming as desired.
All
these factors compelled our then government to open
up the economy by way of economic reforms, popularly
known as the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization
(LPG) process. The results of the reforms are clearly
visible now in the sense that our GDP growth is touching
10% and what is more important is that this growth is
sustainable in future. Inflation, which has always been
a big matter of concern for our policy-makers, is now
around 7%. Thanks to the keen interest of FDIs and FIIs,
our concern is how to ensure optimum utilization of
foreign fund inflows rather than how to attract them.
The rupee is appreciating everyday against the dollar
depicting the strength of the growing Indian economy. |
