A sunny patch …. in an over-cast sky!

After sustained and dogged efforts by the Government in conjunction with Apex institutions like the Reserve Bank viz. economic stimulus by way of interest cuts and other measures, the Indian economy is slowly but surely looking up. The badly mauled Indian stock market, after having bottomed out is showing an upturn too. Has it survived the bear attack? Only time will tell! But there is reason for cautious optimism!

The inflation fell to a record 7 year low to 2.43 per cent; the lowest in over seven years. Prices of many food items and select manufactured products such as metals and transport equipment also fell sharply. So was the case with iron and steel, textiles, chemicals and batteries.

Incredible as it may sound, inflation actually touched zero!! Not so long ago, the inflation number of 0.44 percent would have sounded implausible, even absurd. But today, it’s a reality. Inflation has touched a record 32-year low. What are we looking at?

And now after month-long General Elections the country has actually voted for stability. Time has actually come to take actions to make these wildly optimistic views a reality. Another five years have been vested in the Congress party, with a do or die situation, to improve the lot of the “aam aadmi”- the average Indian.

Well, the Prime Minister, an eminent economist, has been given back his job. He has appointed a veteran politician Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as the Finance Minister.

The Prime Minister is convinced that the bad times are over and substantial positives will emerge by September 2009 and a full recovery is predicted by December 2009.

No more hamstrung by the Left parties, it is hoped that the new Government would push forward growth-oriented reforms to put the economy on a higher trajectory of growth through further pro-liberalisation and other concerted efforts.