Manmohan Wants Revival of Economy with "Animal Spirit"

“In the short run, we need to revive investor sentiment, both domestic and international,” he said. Talking about the problems, Singh said he referred to the “tax front”, mutual fund segment and slowdown in insurance sector “which is not normal in a country with large unmet insurance needs”. “This needs to be looked into,” he said but did not elaborate.

“Immediate emphasis is to manage, balance of payment for which all policies should be directed to help institutional flows to India,” the Prime Minister said, a day after Pranab Mukherjee quit as the finance minister to contest the Presidential poll.

On the external front, Singh said he was concerned about the way the exchange rate is going. His statement comes at a time when the value of rupee has been depreciating sharply and breaching the 57 mark against the US dollar. “Investor sentiment is down and capital flows are drying up,” the economist-Prime Minister regretted.

“There are some external reasons and we need to work towards making our country resilient in meeting these external challenges. However, there are many domestic reasons as well. We need to address these quickly. We need to work to get the economy going again and restart the India growth story,” he said.