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Joint Indian Ministry of Finance-IMF conference "Advancing Asia" with PM Modi and Christine Lagarde

India's Star Shines Bright In Global Gloom: IMF Chief Christine Lagarde

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Christine Lagarde also announced that the IMF will open a new Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center for South Asia.

With young workforce and continuing policy reform, India has not only emerged as the fastest-growing economy, but its stars also shine bright amid the current global gloom, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday.

"It's fitting we meet in India," said Lagarde in her remarks at at "Advancing Asia" summit in Delhi. "It's the world's fastest growing large economy, on the verge of having its largest, youngest ever workforce -- and, in a decade's time, set to become the world's most populous country."

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the podium, Lagarde said it was an opportune time to toast India's achievements -- and Asia's achievements -- which, she added, was a rare bright spot in this current global economic turmoil.

"India stands at a crucial moment in its history -- with an unprecedented opportunity for transformation. Important reforms are underway. Think, for example, of 'Make in India' and 'Digital India'. With promise of more reforms to come, India's star shines bright."

Lagarde also said, Asia remains home to two-thirds of the world's poor, many of whom live in India. To address that and also make Asia's 4.4 billion people realise their full potential, she listed six priorities:

- Broadening access to services like health and finance through steps like Jan Dhan Yojana

- Leveraging fiscal policy impact with instruments like conditional cash transfer programs

- Empowering women with access to education, dismantling barriers

- Providing amenities like water, sanitation and electricity, with better infrastructure

- Greater global trade integration for more sustained growth

- Tackling the challenge of climate change.

India has been working on several of these initiatives, said Lagarde, like the plan for universal access to banking services by 2018.

"Through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, over 210 million previously un-banked people have opened a bank account since August 2014, with social transfers paid directly," she said, lauding the scheme.

"Then with Aadhaar system, India has come up with a groundbreaking way to deliver targeted subsidies. Almost one billion people have Aadhaar numbers, and the potential to use this for delivering payments and other services -- including for women -- is tremendous."

Lagarde also announced that the IMF will open a new Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center for South Asia, which will be its first fully-integrated institution and a model for future capacity development work.

Indian officials said capacity development at the central and state levels in fiscal policies can enhance revenue mobilisation and help in the development of policies for more effective financial management. This is expected to help economic development and inclusive growth.

It will benefit other member countries of the IMF in the region -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka -- with support from external partners like Australia and the Republic of Korea.
 
for transformation.

Interesting choice of word! I'll refer all to the mil version in NATO that I regularly mention : the ACT.

A massive part of its job is to integrate from various mil cultures and change to new shared paradigms.
In the speech above, Lagarde thus includes women because it is a ( substantiated ofc but still ) pet peeve of West Civ ...
and yet keeps silent on remaining caste system problematics or religious zealousness and its conflicts.

The tendency to live in a longer phased timeline than the rest, born of an immemorial genealogy, for example
will have to go eventually, it's a sine qua non condition for lasting progress.
That cultural transformation is the real sticking point, not the ability of India to work per se.

Good day ( and better future yet ) all, Tay.
 
We need jobs. Growth and investment is good.....but skilled vocational jobs is the need of the hour for our youth.

Im glad in recent budget it was mentioned as a pillar on its own and this govt is big on skill development....but it needs to be accelerated this year and next.....to figures of multimillions from skilled job creation of around 1 million right now yearly.
 

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