Indian economy, stock markets doing better than others: FinMin

Trying to soothe the nerves of jittery investors, Finance Ministry today said the Indian economy is doing well and the performance of domestic stock markets is not as bad as that of other nations.

Attributing the plunge in the stock markets to global factors, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said that government was prepared to deal with the challenges and stressed that 7.6 per cent GDP growth projected by the CSO for the current fiscal was “noteworthy and very significant”.

“Over the last few days the NSE and BSE have experienced a lot of volatility. The decline in our markets is comparable to rest of the world... India is not an exception, but it is better off than many other markets,” he said.

His comments failed however to calm the stock markets which posted huge losses during the course of the day.

The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 807 points on sustained selling by funds and retail investors amid weak Asian cues. The 30-share index closed 3.40 per cent down at 22,951.83 points. Similar losses were witnessed in the NSE Nifty.

Das on his part assured the investors that “government is keeping a very close watch on international and global development and government is prepared to deal with all these challenges”.

He further said that government would revise the interest rates for small savings schemes in a day or two to align them with the market rates. The interest rates on girl child and senior citizen schemes, however, will not be revised.

The interest rates on small savings schemes will now be revised every quarter instead of annually, he added.