Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, on Monday congratulated Montek Singh Ahluwalia on his appointment as Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission.
Asked whether growth was responsible for rising prices, Ahluwalia replied, "I don't agree that whenever you have (high economic) growth then you have inflation."
Montek also said he did not consider the fall of about two per cent or so in Asian markets, including India this morning, as severe.
Pursuing good economic practices is not always easy politically, but anyone who thinks it is impossible may be 'damming the country', Planning Commission Deputy Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday.
Favouring labour reforms but without 'hire-and-fire' system, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said rigidities in labour laws were affecting the domestic job market.
The Planning Commission sees stronger economic expansion in the second half which could push up the growth rate for the current fiscal to beyond 6.3 per cent projected earlier by the panel.
The rupee will soon join the elite currencies like the US dollar, the euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.
Yojana Bhawan is working overtime to complete the crucial Approach paper to the 12th Plan amidst a buzz that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia may get a Cabinet berth in the reshuffle expected soon.
He feels much of the problems arise at the level of state governments rather at the central government level.
As the debate is on to decontrol fuel prices, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said it would be a bad idea to continue with subsidies to keep oil prices subdued.
He said that land, a state subject, was a big destination of black money while reform in political funding was also important
"If half a dozen other developing countries could do it, India can too. There are some things we need to do and if we do them right, there should be no doubt about achieving the projected growth rates," Ahluwalia said.
After kicking off the Budget exercise early this week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday had a brain-storming session with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the state of the economy.
The debate over remuneration of CEOs on Monday grew louder with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stating that company heads should not be paid 'indecent salaries'.
"They (prices of petroleum products) should be linked to world prices," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI when asked about the global crude prices now surging to about $70 a barrel.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who has just resigned, on Monday remained non-committal on his prospects of becoming finance minister while describing reports on this as "speculation".
The meetings with Singh and Ahluwalia have taken place just two days before the announcement of the results of the general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha. Besides Karnik, the other nominees on the Satyam board are HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former ICAI chairman T M Manoharan, CII chief mentor Tarun Das, LIC executive S B Mainak and former presiding officer of Securities and Appellate Tribunal C Achuthan.
Says tradability will ensure greater economic efficiency & higher revenues for the government.
With the inflation rate almost halving from the peak levels in August and economic growth slackening, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said there is further scope for the Reserve Bank of India to cut lending rates.
Indian economy grew at a nine-year low rate of 5.3 per cent in January-March quarter in the last financial year and also in the last fiscal at 6.5 per cent.
During the fourth quarter of last fiscal, the economy had grown at a nine-year low rate of 5.3 per cent. During the entire fiscal of 2011-12, the economy grew by 6.5 per cent.
Overall inflation, which has been in double digits for the last five months, was 10.55 per cent in June.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, had stood at 7.47 per cent in December 2011.
The Planning Commission said on Tuesday that emphasis on inclusiveness by the government should not be misconstrued as dilution of the overall growth agenda and the benefits should percolate to all strata of the society.
Planning Commission on Friday said there is no case for providing stimulus to the industry to arrest moderating growth as the fiscal deficit is high and may exceed the Budget estimate of 4.6 per cent by about one percentage point.
Against the all-state average of Rs 3,049 per capita development expenditure, Bihar registered Rs 1,446 during 2005-06. Similarly agaisnt all-state average of Rs 3,826 and Rs 4,208, Bihar recorded per capita development expenditure of Rs 2,123 and Rs 2,184 during 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia strongly favours need for a special package and help for poor Bihar in place of special category state status repeatedly demanded by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
In an interview to CFO Asia, a publication of The Economist Group, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the general public was opposed to privatisation of state-owned enterprises although they feel that public sector was inefficient and corrupt.
Rajasthan's BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday differed on which Union government was behind the expressway project in the state.
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
Differing with International Monetary Fund's growth forecast of 4.9 per cent for India during 2012, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said it has a statistical problem.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
Already Puducherry owed to the Centre as much as Rs 4040 crore (Rs 40.4 billion) over the years as loan and interest.
The Planning Commission's latest poverty estimates, based on the 2011-12 consumption expenditure survey, shows that across India, the number of people living below the poverty line declined by more than 15 percentage points -- from 2004-05 to 2011-12 and from 37 per cent to 21.9 per cent.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday said it expected industrial production to beat last year's growth and attributed the revival to various stimulus measures. His comments came after latest government data showed that factory production grew 11.7 per cent in November last year.
Ahead of the G-20 Summit, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will lead a delegation to a preparatory meet on March 11 in London where deliberations on issues like liquidity crunch and reforms in international financial institutions are likely be taken up.
Deficient monsoon is likely to pull down the economic growth in the current fiscal to about six per cent, from 6.5 per cent a year ago, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
