Maintaining reform pace is a challenge: FM

The focus of the Narendra Modi government is to maintain the reform pace at the same speed at which it has been so far, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today.

"India is one of the fastest growing large economies. We hope to continue to remain that way in the immediate years ahead," Jaitley said at the Advancing Asia, a three-day conference that the government is co-hosting with IMF.

Jaitley listed rural health, state-run banks, private sector as challenges, and said the government was working towards augmenting these sectors, along with pushing along on its focus on highways.

Contrary to the perception of political stubbornness, the FM said the "popular mood" in the country was increasingly becoming "growth-oriented" even across party lines. "Since 1991, we have never abandoned a single legislative reform that we took up. Things move a bit slowly here but they do," he said.