India relatively protected from recession: Anand Sharma

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said that India has been less affected by the current global economic crisis due to the economy's strong fundamentals.     

"The current economic crisis has affected countries across continents –- some more adversely, some less adversely. Without quantifying details India may be one of the countries less adversely affected because of the sound fundamentals of its economy," Sharma said yesterday while interacting with the media here on completing his trip to Washington.     

That is the reason why, he argued, India has had (foreign direct investment) inflows, which is encouraging. "In the month of May itself we had $2 billion of FII money into India, this is because of the stability and strength of the Indian economy, which is reassuring to the Indian investor," Sharma said.     

At the same time, Sharma said it is also very clear that India has been adversely affected in certain sectors, mainly exports, which have dropped by 30 per cent. This needs to be corrected, he said.     

"For that we need to make our exports attractive and competitive ... Because many of the exports which have been impacted are directly connected to the labour-intensive industry, leading to loss of jobs," he said.

Referring to the series of meetings he has had with various stakeholders in this regard back home, Sharma said early this week he discussed the matter with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.     

"We have given our list of recommendations and suggestions. I hope much of that would get reflected in the Budget," he said.     

"There were two stimulus packages which were earlier given; we want the continuation of some including easy availability of credits, rollover of credits, duty drawbacks...," Sharma said.     

"At the same time, we will having a real re-look at the foreign trade policy after the Budget is presented (in terms of) what can be done  in foreign trade policy, which I would be unveiling in August," the Minister said.