Drishtikone
Finally the time has come for the full convertibility – from the time when Dr. Singh took over reigns of a faltering India’s vaults in 1990 as the Finance Minister to now in 2006 when he is the PM – we have moved far.. full convertibility will bring in more investment from foreign investors!
The Indian government’s keenness to move towards greater capital account convertibility is driven by a desire to attract more foreign money into the country to keep up its rapid pace of growth, analysts said on Monday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, architect of India’s economic reforms in the early 1990s, sprang a surprise on Mumbai’s business community at the weekend by announcing on a visit to the financial hub that fuller convertibility had its merits.
The central bank wasted no time in shifting into gear, announcing a six-person committee on Monday to kick off the process and produce a road map by July 31 this year.
Analysts said the plan fed into the communist-backed government’s ambitions on several fronts and a move towards fuller convertibility was a prime step in achieving its target of 10 percent annual economic growth to cut poverty.
“Convertibility is not happening today but it is in line with (the) objective to grow at 10 percent,” said Shuchita Mehta, chief India economist, Standard Chartered Bank.
“We need to supplement domestic saving with foreign investment.”
Singh has repeatedly said he wants Asia’s third-largest economy to accelerate from about 8 percent growth at the moment.
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