IMF hopes India will implement important reforms

Bullish on India, IMF chief Christine Lagarde has hoped that the Government would be able to implement a series of "critically important" economic reforms including GST for unleashing the country's growth potential. "The IMF is quite bullish about India, and our forecast for 2016, 2017 is 7.5 per cent growth," Lagarde said in response to a question at the University of Maryland yesterday.

"So we see India as benefitting, actually it's one of the major beneficiaries of the lower oil prices. When you look at the scale of benefits for particularly the emerging countries, India comes out, you know, way ahead," the IMF's managing director said.

"IMF also believe that the monetary policy, the taming of inflation is also going to benefit the very large domestic market of India," she said, noting that consumption is also going to be one of the key drivers.

"All of that of course, with the hope and the provision, if I may say, that the trend of reforms identified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can actually proceed, whether it's in the fiscal area, by way of implementing the Goods and Services Tax, significant reform like the land reform that is considered," Lagarde said.