Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised to unleash more reforms and push several infrastructure initiatives to boost growth, even as he conceded that the economic growth for FY14
will be lower than the 6.5 per cent target.
The prime minister also hinted at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reversing its recent
tough monetary measures to arrest the rupee's fall.
"The most immediate cause of worry is the recent volatility in foreign exchange market... The RBI has done its bit to mobilise market expectations. More recently, it took additional steps to raise short-term interest rates... These steps are not meant to signal an increase in the long term interest rates. They are designed to contain speculative pressure on currency. Once these short term pressures have been contained, as I expect they will be, the Reserve Bank can even consider reversing these pressures," Singh said while addressing industry body Assocham's annual meeting.
While noting that a turnaround in GDP growth from even the 5 per cent achieved in 2012-13 would be important, the prime minister said the government would use all policy instruments available - fiscal, monetary and supply side interventions - to ensure the
current account deficit (CAD) declines further over time.
Making it clear that the government needs to take steps to revive the momentum of investment, he said many projects that have been held up for lack of regulatory approvals were being expedited and big-ticket projects will be identified to clear the hurdles.
Singh said while foreign direct investment
(FDI) has been liberalised in single-brand retail, multi-brand retail, civil aviation and power exchanges, "more FDI reforms are on the anvil".
With inputs from PTI 
PHOTO: Associated Press 
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