Economic Survey: Raghuram's message is clear 'reform or else...'

Moneycontrol Bureau

CNBC-TV18's Siddharth Zarabi says Raghuram's message is clear. Unless India undertakes significant reforms the picture looks bleak.

"Slowdown is a wake-up call for increasing the pace of actions and reforms. The way out lies in shifting national spending from consumption to investment, removing the bottlenecks to investment, growth, and job creation, in part through structural reforms, combating inflation both through monetary and supply side measures, reducing the costs for borrowers of raising finances and increasing the opportunities for savers to get strong real investment returns," Rajan says.

P Chidambaram is expected to announce some austerity measures to rein in the twin deficits. But austerity may not necessarily translate into growth, says Samiran Chakrabarty of Standard Chartered Bank.

The Economic Survey sees sluggish industrial growth likely to improve in FY14. "The overall economic environment remains fragile,” the survey which tabled in the Parliament said.