Terming India's economic growth as "impressive", the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have said the country faces a challenge in the infrastructure sector, which it needs to improve in order to attract more foreign investment.
"Overall, India is doing impressively well, and it's a very encouraging story of how a very large country with an extraordinarily diverse population can make real inroads in poverty reduction and in development with a democratic system, and I think that's encouraging," World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said at a press conference in Washington on Sunday.
"I think Indian officials that I talk to aren't satisfied with the 7 per cent or so that they're doing, but I must say that is impressive already, and I think they are making every effort to do more," Wolfowitz said after the conclusion of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Observing that India was attaining its growth rate with very low inflation, managing director of the International Monetary Fund Rodrigo de Rato said, "so that shows that the Indian economy is becoming much more efficient."
"If I had to say what is the key for the future, we believe that maintaining this macroeconomic stability and deepening reforms.
"We have seen some very encouraging announcements by the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) regarding further liberalisation of financial reforms, and certainly, infrastructure is a challenge for India and improving the business climate as to attract more foreign and domestic investment," he said.
On the issue of corruption, the head of the bank remarked, "...as I said in my opening comments, the problem with corruption, which is a problem that affects even the richest countries in the world, is one that can't be eliminated overnight. You have to tackle it progressively".
"And I think many of the countries we're dealing with are doing that. I just came back from Indonesia, and it's almost a national preoccupation to fight against corruption, and from the president down to the ordinary people in the street, it's something that Indonesians believe needs to be tackled in order to solve the problem of poverty in their country, and I have seen that in many other countries in the world, including India," Wolfowitz remarked.
