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Davos (Switzerland), Jan.28 (ANI): Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday stated that Indias domestic demand will help it sustain economic growth despite the prevailing global downturn, which could not hit the country as much as it impacted other economies.
“India’’s growth story is based on domestic demand. It is not based on the export market entirely…we can continue to keep our domestic demand-driven growth,” Kamal Nath said here on the first day of the five-day annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meet on Wednesday.
“We cannot insulate or isolate ourselves from it (global downturn) but we can continue to keep our domestic demand,” Kamal Nath added.
Kamal Nath here said that the Central government had announced four billion dollars for infrastructure projects, which would take off in the next couple of months.
“That is creating domestic demand…and that is what is going to sustain (us) through. We are not going to get hit as (badly) as other countries,” Nath claimed.
India’’s exports, worth around USD 200 billion, contribute about 20 per cent to its domestic production. The economy, which grew by over 9 per cent in the last three financial years in a row, has shown signs of weakness in the current fiscal.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lowered the growth projection to 7 per cent for 2008-09 in the wake of slowdown in the world economy.
Meanwhile, Kamal Nath during an interviewed remarked that the regulatory mechanism in India may be strengthened in view of the Satyam episode, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said, but added that the global economy should not view this single incident as a “red flag”.
Kamal Nath is on a five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which started today (Jan.28) at Davos in Switzerland, amid one of the worst global financial crisis in decades. (ANI)

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