India 'better placed' than other BRIC nations, says Roubini

India is “better placed” among BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, as Brazil faces slowing growth, Russia’s economy isn’t “well diversified” and China’s model is being “challenged,” New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.

“In relative terms, India is actually positioned well,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg UTV in New Delhi on Wednesdsay. At the same time, the pace of “structural reforms” in India has been “mediocre” and unless India pushed ahead with those changes, economic growth in “absolute terms” would “disappoint,” he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s efforts to bolster the Indian economy have been hampered by corruption scandals, inflation and the decision last month to stall the easing of foreign investment rules in multi-brand retail. Still, the government yesterday ratified a November 24 Cabinet decision to raise the ownership limit for overseas single-brand retailers to 100 per cent from 51 per cent.

The country’s economy expanded 6.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2011. By comparison, Brazil’s economy grew 2.1 per cent, Russia’s by 4.8 per cent and China’s by 9.1 per cent during the same period.

Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC, predicted the US housing bubble before the market peaked in 2006, while failing to predict a rebound in global stocks in 2009.