Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that situation in Asia is not as pessimistic as the rest of the world, as there is still a lot of growth potential and that is why the Asian growth rate is much higher as compared to the other global growth rate.
Talking about India though Jaitley said that in the next two decades India will have to go for rapid urbanization and conceded that management or urban infrastructure, especially of water will become a serious challenge with more and more people shifting to cities. He also said that today, they have 31 per cent of population in urban areas and over the next two decades the figure is going to increase significantly. He added that when this figure increases over the next two decades, we will see urban India really becoming a nerve-centre or hub of growth.
About elements of urban infrastructure, he said that power supply will increase considering growth in the sector and there is substantial improvement in roads. He added that power supply and roads will continue to improve but the availability of water may become a serious challenge. Giving the example of Delhi and Mumbai, he said that key urban centres in States also act as engines of growth.
As for the global economy, Jaitley felt that it has seen a far more serious challenge in the last few years. Overall, he said that while there is a lot of generic talk about using all the tools available with the government, monetary or fiscal, structural changes to prepare India in this time of poor global growth, but there are few ideas on how to actually do so.