Reforms process 'not a single day story': Sinha

Regarding 'the lack of reforms' cited by Moody's, Sinha blamed the Congress for logjam in Parliament during the monsoon session

With global rating agency Moody's cutting its growth forecast for India citing lack of reforms, Union Minister Jayant Sinha today said the government is committed to the reforms process but it is "not a single day story".

"We are going to push forward as long as reforms are concerned, as far as our efforts are concerned and that will surely show up in terms of growth, in terms of job creation and eventually the rating agencies will (also acknowledge it)," he told reporters here.

Moody's earlier today lowered India's growth forecast to 7 per cent for 2015, from 7.5 per cent projected earlier. It cited lack of reforms as one of the main reasons.

"One main risk to our forecast is that the pace of reforms slows significantly as consensus behind the need for reforms weakens once the least controversial aspects of the government's plan have been implemented," Moody's said.

Sinha said reforms are not a single day story but a continuous process, while he cited the government's recent initiatives like 'Indradhanush' for state-run banks.

When asked specifically about 'the lack of reforms' cited by Moody's, Sinha blamed the Congress for logjam in Parliament during the monsoon session.

"I think that is the message you'll have to take to our colleagues from Congress across the aisle (in Parliament). The rest of the country was just holding its breath and hoping for the Rajya Sabha to function so that we can get GST passed for the good of everyone," he said.

"As far as GST is concerned, it was a decision of two people to obstruct Parliament and delay passage of legislation which is important for country's growth," he added.

He parried a question on the likelihood of convening a special session to get the crucial legislation passed so that GST can be a reality by the targeted date of April 1, 2016.

On the rising bad loans in the system, Sinha acknowledged that the non-performing assets in the system are rising but added that they might be at the peak.

"NPAs have been rising. We think we've gotten close to the peak as far as NPAs are concerned. We've a multidimensional approach, divide and conquer approach to tackle the NPAs. We've many tools. We feel we'll be able to tackle it," he said.

Later speaking at a SBI event, Sinha said, "We are confident of sustaining growth of over 8-10 per cent in next few years.