Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Feb 07, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Feb 07, 2004 |
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Industry & Economy
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Economy `Feel good factor' not temporary: Jaswant Our Bureau
New Delhi , Feb. 6 THE Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, on Friday claimed that the current "feel good factor" phenomenon was not temporary or restricted to a few sectors, but something extending to even the vast rural hinterland housing 70 per cent of the country's population. "The feel good factor is not the kind of nice feeling one gets after having a good workout in the morning followed by a shower. It is something more stable and visible even in the rural countryside. All over India there is a new spirit of self-confidence and mental liberation even among our artisans and farmers," the Minister said at a post Interim-Budget meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Mr Singh said that this "feel good" was not simply on account of the good monsoons this time around, but a reflection of something more fundamental marking a "reawakening of India". He added that there is a new spirit of self-confidence bubbling underneath and all that the present Government and its economic managers had done was to "lift the lid" and release the "animal spirits of this giant economic dynamo". The Finance Minister also defended the Government's current `Shining India' advertising campaign by noting that there was "no reason to feel bad about feeling good". At the same time, Mr Singh expressed concern over the feel-good phenomenon not translating in to sufficient new investments. "I can understand foreign direct investment (FDI) not coming in because there are certain complex procedural issues that are acting as a deterrent. I am sure these can be sorted out and when one or two major projects take off, there would be a flow. But the absence of sufficient (domestic) investments is something that is definitely a cause of concern for me," Mr Singh added.
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