India needs to expedite structural reform process by building consensus: IMF officials

India should expedite the structural reform process by working to build consensus, according to senior IMF officials who said the country needs land and labour market reforms to achieve sustained growth.

Changyong Rhee, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund, said that India has some of the world class economists and there is no dearth of good policies, the issue is with their implementation.

"I don't know whether my Indian colleagues will like it or not. Just do it. Stop talking," Rhee told PTI in an interview when asked what India needs to do to achieve high sustained growth.

Rhee quickly explained stating that "just do it" might be too simple a line.

"India is, of course, a democratic society, so consensus needs to be first built. It is in that context, though, that India needs to expedite the reform process first, by working to build consensus and agreement and then followed by implementation," he explained.

"I think, the real issue is whether India is ready to implement; even though gradually, even though one by one. That is why I liked the Modi Government because it is starting to implement it."
"If you focus on whether India can achieve a higher growth rate for next 10 years, it depends on the success of structural reform and whether the structure reforming can continue, he said