Bengaluru: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the rhetoric of protectionism in developed economies and unpredictable global slowdown have not affected India.
“What strikes us today is two important factors —unpredictable global slowdown and the rhetoric of protectionism in developed economies. But these haven’t affected India,” he said at ‘Make In India-Karnataka’ meet here.
Not a single sound or even ‘a whisper’ of protectionism is being heard in India and such talk is there only in the developed economies, he said, adding that this itself is a tribute to the fact that the country is willing to accept investments and tune its policies.
Mr Jaitley said there is tremendous pressure on government policy makers because of peoples' impatience to see India grow at a faster rate and get rid of poverty, among other things.
Organized by the Karnataka government in association with department of industrial policy and Promotion (DIPP), government of India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the conference saw participation of more then 5,000 delegates from over 30 countries.
He lauded Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his ministers and civil servants for working with a positive frame of mind for implementation of GST by the middle of this year. “With the implementation of GST, the whole country would become one big market and this could lead to a much bigger formal economy and revenue size,” he added.
If Karnataka wants to emerge as a leader in the country in terms of development, Mr Jaitley said the state should achieve 2-3 per cent higher growth rate than the national average.
Meanwhile, Mr Siddara-maiah said that the state government has a vision to make Karnataka an innovative and high-tech manufacturing hub of the country. “The focus sho-uld be on home grown capital and technologies.”
