Overview
- Speaking at ASSOCHAM on Tuesday, September 15, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said India enters renewed geopolitical and global financial volatility from a position of strength, citing strong bank credit growth, robust GST collections and healthy corporate and banking balance sheets.
- Nageswaran noted recent financing moves and ratings that bolster buffers, including a sovereign upgrade to A- and the mobilisation of about USD 137 billion through foreign exchange deposit swaps and external commercial borrowings.
- He warned that oil prices above USD 107–108 a barrel and harder global bond yields, with the US 10-year around 5.02 percent, could test inflation and external-account pressures and therefore India’s macro-financial cushions.
- The CEA pressed the private sector to invest more, hire and compensate fairly, and boost R&D because he said policy alone cannot drive the next phase of growth, and he urged an India-specific AI path that uses edge AI to complement rather than replace labour.
- He pointed to concrete opportunities and human effects: a weaker rupee has already aided exports, upcoming UK and EU trade pacts could help labour‑intensive sectors, and households and young people should prepare with vocational skills and attention to wellbeing.