India likely to remain fastest growing major economy: Das

RBI Governor says expects October’s retail inflation reading to be ‘lower than 7%’

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Saturday exuded confidence that India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy with a likely growth rate of 7% in 2022-23 on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals and financial sector stability.

Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit 2022, Mr. Das emphasised that the country's economy remains resilient, supported by the banking and non-banking sectors.

Mr. Das said the entire world has withstood multiple shocks. "I call it triple shocks of COVID-19 pandemic, then the war in Ukraine, and now the financial market turmoil."

The RBI Governor said the financial market turmoil is mainly emanating from the synchronised monetary policy tightening across the world by central banks, especially those in advanced countries, led by the U.S. Fed, and the spillovers are being felt by the emerging market economies, including India.

He further said in this kind of successive turmoils, European Union is facing a recession situation, but there are possibilities that it will avoid that. The U.S. is holding stable, but there are other countries where the growth has slowed down.

"So far as India is concerned, economy, overall macroeconomic fundamentals, the financial sector stability, all these aspects remain resilient. The banking sector that is the financial sector is stable because of all the parameters with regard to banking or the non-banking lenders or the other major financial sector players," he said.

The growth numbers are looking good in the current context, he noted.