Parekh hopes new government would push reforms

Pinning hopes on new government, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh today exuded confidence that the economic scenario would improve after elections and the pace of reforms would pick up.
"Irrespective of who forms the government, the economic agenda will remain the same. One only hopes that the pace of reforms may be faster...," he said at an event here.
A higher rate of growth will also depend on broader set of reforms such as judicial, electoral, labour and police, he added.
Many key financial reforms, including Insurance Bill and DTC Bill, could not be passed during the UPA-II government because of political reasons.

"We need better education, we need better governance and we need better growth and I remain confident that we will get better on all these three parameters and the faster we get, better it is for us," he said.
Talking about growth, Parekh, a top industry leader, said there is sufficient reason to believe that India is on a much stronger footing today than it was 6-8 months ago.

"If one looks at the current scenario and the growth trajectory, I personally feel that the worst is behind us," he said.
There is a need to shed the pessimistic view about India economy as it retains huge potential for growth, he said.

"In the current environment, we run the risk of becoming perennial pessimists. As we consume ourselves with this negativity, there is tendency to forget what our inherent strengths are," he said.
Noting that domestic investors are more pessimist, Parekh said: "Right now we need believers in the Indian story, we need hope that things will turn around for the better and we need to have conviction that this will happen."
There has been huge disappointment in the performance of the Indian economy and much of India's problems have been self inflicted, he said.
Quoting IMF's forecast for 2014, Parekh said India is expected to grow at 5.4 per cent compared to 4.4 per cent in 2013.

"Based on macro-fundamentals today, I feel India is far less fragile than several other emerging markets," he said.
Current account deficit and fiscal deficit have fallen, he said, adding that foreign exchange reserves have increased.
Inflation, another concern of Indian economy, has been showing a declining trend on the back of lower food prices, he said.