STATE TIMES NEWS
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India needs to become economically self-reliant in the next 10 years so that the nation is not impacted much by global factors.
Speaking on the 90th anniversary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Prime Minister also said a lot of work will be generated for everyone once the BJP-led NDA assumes office for the third term in June.
“We have to increase India’s economic self-reliance,” he said.
Modi said the banking sector has become profitable and credit growth has been increasing because of efforts taken by his government and the RBI in the last decade.
He further said the gross NPAs of public sector banks, which was around 11.25 per cent in 2018, dropped to less than 3 per cent by September 2023.
The “twin-balance sheet” problem is now a thing of the past, Modi said, adding that banks are now registering a credit growth of 15 per cent.
The RBI has played a significant role in all these accomplishments, the Prime Minister added.
He said the Reserve Bank has to accord “top-most priority” to growth and at the same time focus on trust and stability.
Modi said the next decade is as important for attaining the goal of developed India as it is for the RBI, which will complete 100 years of existence in 2035.
He said as per the “mantra” of the central bank, “The RBI should make fast growth its top-most priority, along with focusing on trust and stability.”
Since 2016, keeping inflation under check has become the primary goal of the RBI. Often, there are voices who have pitched for additional attention to growth through measures like rate cuts.
The comments come days ahead of the first monetary policy review of the new fiscal year.
Modi said the “reflection” of double-digit inflation rate was not visible in the financial policies earlier, and claimed credit for giving the RBI the rights to take decisions to curb inflation.
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) has also done some very good work on its mandate over the years, Modi said.
The government’s efforts, including delivering on fiscal consolidation and active price monitoring, also helped in the cooling of inflation, he added.
Modi said inflation is at a “moderate level”, despite the Covid pandemic or the challenges posed by wars in various countries.
India followed a path where it took care of both financial prudence concerns and also the requirements of the common man during the pandemic, he said.
At a time when many countries of the world are still struggling to come out of the shocks suffered during the pandemic, the Indian economy is creating new records, Modi said.
He said balancing inflation control and growth is a unique need for every developing country and urged everybody to study the right monetary tools to wrestle with this challenge.
The PM said the RBI can create a model and play a leadership role that will help the broader Global South.
