Union finance minister P. Chidambaram has called for convergence among political parties on economic issues in the interest of overall development. "We can have all the politicking on other issues like caste, religion etc., but when it comes to economic issues there must be a convergence," he said here on Wednesday.
Delivering his first ever public lecture in the city, at an interactive session hosted by the Lokmat Group of Newspapers, the finance minister said, " I am concerned about the hardening of interest rates. I feel that there should be a balance between the interest rate that you earn on your savings, and the rate at which the investors borrow from the banks," he said. In an interesting reference to Mr Vijay Darda, Rajya Sabha member and chairman and managing director of the Lokmat Group of newspapers, that sent ripples of laughter in the audience, Mr Chidambaram quipped, "Wise men like me save and wiser men like Vijay borrow." In equally simple terms, he explained that foreign direct investments (FDIs) are in fact a result of tapping into the savings of other countries. "When I explain it in this way, it sounds simple, but when I call it FDI, then some people get uneasy," he observed.
The Union finance minister said that India is the only country that would reap the demographic dividend over the next 25 years as its working population would grow at a higher rate. "I would call upon the youth of the country to pick up this challenge," he said.
Delivering his first ever public lecture in the city, at an interactive session hosted by the Lokmat Group of Newspapers, the finance minister said, " I am concerned about the hardening of interest rates. I feel that there should be a balance between the interest rate that you earn on your savings, and the rate at which the investors borrow from the banks," he said. In an interesting reference to Mr Vijay Darda, Rajya Sabha member and chairman and managing director of the Lokmat Group of newspapers, that sent ripples of laughter in the audience, Mr Chidambaram quipped, "Wise men like me save and wiser men like Vijay borrow." In equally simple terms, he explained that foreign direct investments (FDIs) are in fact a result of tapping into the savings of other countries. "When I explain it in this way, it sounds simple, but when I call it FDI, then some people get uneasy," he observed.
The Union finance minister said that India is the only country that would reap the demographic dividend over the next 25 years as its working population would grow at a higher rate. "I would call upon the youth of the country to pick up this challenge," he said.