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Rajan denying 2nd term won’t affect Indian economy: WB
NEW DELHI: The World Bank on Thursday said the Indian economy would not be impacted by Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’ s decision to not to take up
NEW DELHI: The World Bank on Thursday said the Indian economy would not be impacted by Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’ s decision to not to take up a second term as the central bank chief.
“I think the (Narendra) Modi government has made it clear that they will continue with the important principle of having an independent central bank. There are many things that they( Indian government) have said, which confirms in my opinion, that it is not about a single person ,” World Bank president Jim Yong Kim told media at the end of his two-day visit to India.
Praising Rajan, Jim Yong Kim described him as an “extremely respected and productive scholar in addition to being a great central bank governor.”
“It’s about certain principles, practices that they would adhere to. I don’t expect there will be a major shift because the principles of an independent central bank will continue,” he said.
Menawhile, the World Bank president and power minister Piyush Goyal signed a pact, according to which the agency will provide $1-billion (₹6,750 crore) loan to support India’s solar energy initiatives, which will help reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.
“We plan to provide more than $1 billion to support India’ s ambitious initiatives to expand solar energy through investments in solar generation,” Kim said.
These projects include solar rooftop technology, infrastructure for solar parks, bringing innovative solar and hybrid technologies to market, and transmission lines for solar-rich states.
Kim, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley, appreciated the work done by the government towards improving the ease of doing business and overall sanitation through the Swachh Bharat programme.
“We are doing all we can to support Prime Minister Modi’s personal commitment toward renewable energy, especially in scaling up solar energy,” he said.
India has also been pushing for voice reform sin the World Bank, a move that will allow greater say to emerging economies in relation to activities of the multilateral lending agency.
Replying to a question on the status, Kim said the bank has been considering the issue, but it is a complicated one. “The World Bank is a co-operative of 189 countries, and we have safeguards and different voices in the organisation. We have questions on capital increase, implication of capital increase..these are complicated issues, but I am happy to say that the 189 governors of the World Bank group are moving towards solutions to all of them,” he said.
“I hope it is within the next year that we will know where we are going in all those issues.”
He also said that the impact of Brexit on India has been minimal. “India has been very resilient.”
India registered a growth of 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, while the GDP growth for the previous fiscal stood at 7.6%.
