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Past Event

Is India's High Growth Sustainable?

India, South Asia, Asia, Global Economics


Event Summary

Over the past four years India's economic growth has continued to exceed expectations, surging ahead at an annual rate of more than 8 percent. Additionally, India's recent five-year plan predicts that over 9 percent annual growth will be achieved in the coming years. The dividends have been notable in terms of declines in poverty and increases in living standards. Yet there are concerns that India may be overheating, with consumer prices, asset prices, and wages all rising; capacity utilization at high levels; and skill shortages developing. What are the real prospects for India's economy, and can growth continue in a balanced and sustainable way?

Event Information

When

Thursday, March 08, 2007
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Brookings Office of Communications

E-mail: communications@brookings.edu

Phone: 202.797.6105

On March 8, Brookings Global Economy and Development and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hosted a panel discussion on India's economy. Participants included Charles F. Kramer, chief of the IMF's division that covers India; Shantayanan Devarajan, chief economist of the World Bank's Human Development Network, South Asia Region, and editor of the World Bank Research Observer; and Nirvikar Singh, director of the Business Management Economics program and co-director of the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Lael Brainard, vice president and director of Global Economy and Development, moderated the discussion.

Event Presentations
India's Boom: Real or Overheating? (103KB PDF)
India's Growth (522KB PDF)
Is India's High Growth Sustainable? (84KB PDF)

Transcript

LAEL BRAINARD: We are here today to talk about the IMF's recent Article IV Report on India's economy and looking in particular at the very strong growth rate, asking whether it is sustainable, asking whether it is enough, and asking how much of it is filtering through the population.

We have an expert panel here who I will introduce in a second. Before I do, I just want to call your attention to that the Article IV report I think is outside on the table and you are welcome to take copies with you when you go. You also I think have copies of the India Policy Forum on your seats. That is a collaborative venture that Brookings does with the Indian counterpart institution, the NCAER, and also looks at a lot of macroeconomic issues in there.

Just by chance we happen to have had here in this room two weeks ago the former head or the founding director of Infosys, Narayana Murthy. Interestingly, we asked him to talk about globalization and one of the key things he focused on was the dilemma that although India is now really taking advantage of globalization and is highly integrated into the global economy and growing very rapidly, he said his chief concern was that it had not so far been able to create opportunities for the 650 million people living in rural India and earning a tiny income every day, and I know this panel is very interested in these issues and will talk a lot about them.

Participants

Featured Speakers

Charles F. Kramer

Division Chief, Asia and Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund

Nirvikar Singh

Professor of Economics, Director of the Business Management, Economics Program and Co-Director, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz

Shantayanan Devarajan

Chief Economist, Human Development Network, South Asia Region; Editor of the World Bank Research Observer, World Bank

Introduction and Moderator

Lael Brainard

Vice President and Director, Global Economy and Development


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