Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government is following the approach of ‘Reform to Transform’ through far-reaching structural reforms and has initiated several initiatives to boost investment climate and improve Ease of doing Business.
The Finance Minister while addressing the Business Session of the 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Asian Development Bank (ADB) held at Frankfurt, said that though the Asia-Pacific region remains the growth engine for the world, there appears to be a softening in region’s growth rate from 5.9 percent projected last year to 5.7 percent each in 2016 and 2017. But he added that India continues to maintain a high growth rate at 7.65 percent in 2015-16 compared to 7.2 percent in the previous year.
Jaitley also pointed that India’s massive financial inclusion program has enabled opening of over 200 million bank accounts for unbanked persons. India is using AADHAAR, a unique identification system, as a backbone for targeted delivery of financial subsidies and benefits.
Later the minister said that good monsoon will aid in accelerating economic growth of the country and that India can grow at faster pace this year if predictions of good monsoon hold up.