India can replace China, says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

The finance minister said India is an investor-friendly destination and investors need not fear any retrospective legislations. “My message to the people wanting to do businesses in India is that there is a red carpet laid down for you. India needs and invites investments and we are going to be one of the more investor-friendly destination,” he said.

“In an environment where there is a relative global slowdown, India seems to be doing reasonably well. We finished last year with 7.3 per cent growth rate, will probably finish this year with a slightly better growth rate than that and next year hopefully will be a little better,” Mr Jaitley said.

“I see this as a great opportunity. The Chinese normal has now changed. It is no longer the nine per cent, 10 per cent, 11 per cent growth rate.” Mr Jaitley said that it is an opportunity and challenge for Indian politics “if we can continue to reform at a faster pace and really attract global investment, then our ability to provide that shoulder which the world economy needs will be much greater.”

The finance minister said that the challenge is always there as the government is required to convince those sections of the society which are yet to benefit from the growth process. “I think the processes could be slower, but it is a more stable system.”

He said that the recent stock market crash had a transient impact. “When the Chinese economy slowed down it didn’t impact much. When the devaluation and the currency war started we did get little affected. When global markets fell, we also felt a huge impact. But within a day we recovered,” he said.