Economy recovering but some sectors under stress: RBI governor

Even though the economy is in the midst of recovery, there is still work to be done as some sectors are experiencing stress, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday.

"Some sectors are doing quite well while some are experiencing stress and they still need some pick up -- most obviously the agriculture sector which faced two successive droughts,", Rajan said, making his address on 'India: Prospects and Challenges' at the 'Odisha Knowledge Hub' lecture series here.

He batted for lighter regulation for small scale industries and easier business environment for startups in order to foster job creation.

"Having lighter regulation is very important for small industries. While in UK, there are lighter regulations, Italy has very hard regulations. As a result, the small firms grow much faster and bigger in UK compared to Italy," said Rajan.

Advocating easier entry and exit rules, especially for smaller companies, he said the 'inspector raj' has to be further relaxed.

The central bank has brought the medium enterprises in the ambit of priority sector lending, Rajan said, adding that micro-lending by both private and public sector banks has increased in the past few years.

He said infrastructure boost including connectivity will be very helpful to small industries while market linkage is another measure that is required.

--IANS

cd/kb/vm