Rising crude prices, falling rupee posing some challenges: Rajnath Singh

Rising crude oil prices and falling rupee are posing some challenges before the policymakers, union home minister Rajnath Singh said in Lucknow on Tuesday.

However, he asserted that in spite of these challenges, the Narendra Modi government had managed to keep both current account deficit and fiscal deficit under check.

“Although, high crude prices and falling rupee are challenging factors for the government, yet there is no threat to the Indian economy, especially due to the buffer of our robust foreign exchange reserves of over $400 billion,” Singh added.

Flanked by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, he was addressing the media in his parliamentary constituency of Lucknow to mark the completion of 4 years of the Modi government at the Centre.

He said under the Modi rule, India had emerged from the shadows of current account deficit and now the country was posting current account surplus due to proactive economic policies.

“Top world economists are of the view that if India continued to grow at this pace, it would soon break into top 5 of the world’s largest economies from its current position of 7,” Singh said adding the country was today among the most attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) destinations.

Meanwhile, he said the Centre was seized of the issue of rising petrol prices and was looking at measures to ease the burden on consumers.

The union home minister also referred to the erstwhile Hindu rate of growth, which was used to define India’s economic growth keeping at sub 3 per cent levels for several decades.

“Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first leader, who exhibited to the world the vast economic potential of India, which clocked 8 per cent growth rate under his rule and the country for the first time broke among the top 10 global economies,” he underlined.

Singh maintained the Modi dispensation had successfully dispensed corruption free and effective governance in the last 48 months by taking radical steps to strengthen the economic framework for future growth.

Referring to a recent report, Singh claimed India was estimated to attract almost $4-5 trillion worth of investment in infrastructure sector alone by 2040, which would be double of the country’s present Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Our government believes that the country cannot prosper unless Indian farmers are prosperous. We are working on the agenda of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 through post-harvest management to cut wastage, decreasing the cost of farm inputs and increasing investment in agriculture,” he informed.

Meanwhile, he lauded the Adityanath government for good governance and tackling law and order effectively. “The government has instilled fear among criminals, which is no mean achievement.”

To a question, he replied that the Centre had not announced ‘ceasefire’ in Jammu and Kashmir, but ‘suspension of operations’ against terrorist due to Ramzan.