Letters: Investment and demand

This refers to T N Ninan's column "Waiting for the uptick" (Weekend Ruminations, April 25). The basics of economic development are investment and demand for products and services. The banking and financial systems in the country today are sitting on mountains of cash, which can be lent to industrialists and entrepreneurs.

Seventy per cent of India's population does not have a discretionary rupee in their hands after meeting the basic necessitates such as food, shelter, clothing, health care and so on. How will the demand be created so that new industries can come up and existing industries can expand too?

We were taught in college by our eminent teachers of economics that to ensure growth and development in the country, the purchasing powers should be created in the hands of the people. This might sound like the "chicken and egg" syndrome but it is the duty of the government to solve this riddle, so that the economy can grow.

Nirupam Haldar Kolkata

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