May 17, 2012
On a day when Rupee plunged to an all -time low and the BSE benchmark Sensex dipped below 16,000 level, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed optimism that the Indian markets will soon insulate itself from the ongoing eurozone crisis.
May 17, 2012
On a day when Rupee plunged to an all -time low and the BSE benchmark Sensex dipped below 16,000 level, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed optimism that the Indian markets will soon insulate itself from the ongoing eurozone crisis.
Explaining the reasons for a steep fall in the domestic markets, the Finance Minister said that the crisis in Europe is to be blamed for the present situation. Replying on status of the domestic economy, Pranab said in Rajya Sabha that markets across the globe have tanked because of eurozone crisis and the inconclusive Greece election.
"Not only in India, equities markets across Asia have tanked due to the Eurozone crisis," he said in Rajya Sabha. Pranab Mukherjee said the fiscal stimulus package was needed to boost economy and admitted that the global economic situation impacted our Budget. We are concerned about decline in GDP growth but have taken series of steps to boost economic growth," he said, adding, "India's growth story is intact and our GDP growth is on right track."
We want FDI, but decisions are time consuming because of coalition compulsions, Finance Minister said. On retrospective amendments to tax laws, Pranab said Parliament is omnipotent and there is no confrontation with judiciary on it. "Govt going to take some austerity steps to convey that it is responding to situation but I am not pressing panic button, " Mukherjee said. Indian stock markets today plunged below 16,000-mark for the first time in four months as the Rupee took a severe beating further to touch a record low of 54.46 after a spurt in capital outflow and problems in bourses over Eurozone crisis.
The BSE benchmark Sensex dipped below 16,000 level for the first time since January 12 in midsession trade today on aggressive selling by foreign funds as weak rupee raised concerns of slowing economic growth. The Sensex, which had a brief recovery yesterday in last six sessions, fell further to trade 349.90 points, or 2.14 percent to 15,978.35.Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index lost 101.65 points, or 2.05 percent to 4,841.15 with stocks of auto, metal and power suffering major losses.
Courtesy: ET
