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Interviews | Dr. Surjit S Bhalla, economist and Executive Director for India on the board of International Monetary Fund (IMF), interviewed by Richa Mishra (The Hindu Business Line)
Dr. Surjit S Bhalla, economist and Executive Director for India on the board of International Monetary Fund (IMF), interviewed by Richa Mishra (The Hindu Business Line)

Dr. Surjit S Bhalla, economist and Executive Director for India on the board of International Monetary Fund (IMF), interviewed by Richa Mishra (The Hindu Business Line)

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published Published on Nov 8, 2019   modified Modified on Nov 11, 2019
-The Hindu Business Line

“Join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), but do not ignore your internal market and demand. Ninety per cent of our bad export story is domestic challenges, 10 per cent is external environment or external policy,” says Economist Surjit S Bhalla. Seventy-one-year old Bhalla has a tough task ahead — to make New Delhi’s voice louder at the international forums as he is set to take charge as the Executive Director for India on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shortly. BusinessLine caught up with Bhalla who recently submitted the report of the Committee on Trade and Policy – High Level Advisory Group (HLAG). The HLAG was headed by him. Excerpts:

* Core numbers and other data show that we should be worried about our economy. Has this been factored in the report of the Committee on Trade and Policy -- High Level Advisory Group (HLAG)?

I believe that July-September quarter would represent the bottom in the economy. I am not in the camp that believes that there is a worldwide recession – based on inverted real curve. I believe inversion is more due to the fact that inflation is dead.

What the report does is outline both the macro and the micro economic areas of challenges and concern. When working on the report we came across shocking statistics in some areas. For example, financial exports — banking, finance etc — in 2018 were less in absolute dollar terms than agriculture exports were in 1980, when India was a poor economy, a food-dependent economy.

We should ask why the financial sector is closed. Also ask why agriculture has not seen reforms – ever. Actually, it is the only sector to have seen de-reform (financial export sector is just closed, like it has always been). Successive governments have imposed food price controls, export bans etc. The report does not believe there is much logic to these restrictions.

If you were to open up the agriculture sector and allow farmers to produce and sell what they want to and whom they want to, then may be there can be a case that distribution of farmers income will not be what is socially and politically desirable. But, we have technology that will ensure that farmers can be compensated – PM Kisan.

Food stamps were the original mechanism for direct benefit transfer, why did we not take the path? Sri Lanka took that path a century ago, and the US in the mid-sixties. Instead we took the path where we decided how much fertiliser we will sell to the farmer, what price the farmer will sell the produce, we buy and set up the Food Corporation of India which, in turn, sent it to the “poor”. Only, 50 per cent of the food sent by the FCI disappeared into thin air. This mechanism is still being defended. So the report asks us to think.


The Hindu Business Line, 3 November, 2019, please click here to read the entire interview
 
Image Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line

The Hindu Business Line, 3 November, 2019, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/macro-economy/90-of-our-bad-export-story-is-domestic-challenges-10-per-cent-is-external-environment-economist-su


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