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| Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence director Swami Bodhananda (left) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch co-convener S Gurumurthy at a seminar on India’s Growth Story held on the JNTUH campus in Hyderabad on Sunday. (Express photo | Neeraj Murali) |
India should recognise its potential and capability and adopt its own model of economic growth rather than copying the western pattern, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch co-convener S Gurumurthy has said.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘India’s Growth Story-Challenges & Road Ahead’, organised as part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Jayanti celebrations at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad at Kukatpally here on Sunday, Gurumurthy said Indian economy was surviving not because of the foreign direct investments (FDIs) but because of its intrinsic strength.
In 1991 when the Indian economy was opened up to the world it was believed that only through FDI could India develop but the assumption was proved wrong and India grew on its domestic strength, he pointed out.
Between 1991 and 2011 the total investment that came to India was just 1.2 percent of its GDP, which proved that Indian economy survived without FDIs. India’s domestic potential was far greater than it appeared and it can survive on its own, he said.
“India was an economic giant for 1,700 years and in 1750 China’s contribution to world’s GDP was 34 percent, India’s 24 percent while US’ and UK’s contribution was a meagre 2 percent. Until the 19th century, India and China had been the main drivers of global economy. Now the situation has reversed and the wealth has shifted from Asia to Europe and America,” he said.
“Family-led societies like India will not risk their income in stocks but they prefer safety which is why our economies are surviving,” he said.
Gurumurthy said that the US transformed from being the largest investor and lender in the world in 1976 to the biggest borrower today _ it borrows $ 2.5 trillion to run its economy. He said that there was no universal economic model and it was behavioural factors that made a formal economic model.
Disagreeing with the government’s claims that high imports of oil and gold were the reason for India’s current account deficit, he said it was due to capital goods import. Before the UPA government came to power the country had a $ 22 billion current account surplus and due to the wrong policies of the government today the current deficit has reached $ 339 billion.
Gurumurthy said Swami Vivekananda had envisioned India as an economic powerhouse a century earlier and was the first to recognise and acknowledge her inherent potential.
Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence director Swami Bodhamayananda said that along with professional excellence human excellence was the need of hour. Microsoft IDC office division general manager Rajiv Kumar and JNTUH principal Vinay Babu were also present.
Courtesy : The New Indian Express
Courtesy : The New Indian Express