Effective governance can push the growth rate above eight per cent: Chidambaram

Chennai;

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that the nation’s economy will grow regardless of any government but to attain a six to eight per cent growth it requires effective governance.

Presiding over a function to honour financial journalists with Shriram Sanlam Awards for Excellence at the ITC Grand Chola here, Chidambaram said that the focus should be that the condition for growth remains intact and governance remains more and more effective and responsible and efficient.

He said if the country conceive and designs its project more efficiently and deliver its projects more efficiently surely the growth rate could cross eight to nine per cent.

Urging the financial journalist not to underestimate the ability of India’s growth rate, he said the economy will continue to grow but the difference they could make is to ensure that the growth rate is not modest at five to six per cent but grows at a brisk rate of eight to nine per cent.

He later presented awards to journalists for the excellence in finance journalism. The lifetime achievement award was conferred on Swaminathan S Anklesaria, consulting editor of The Economic Times.

The ceremony also witnessed emotional moments when a 99 year old veteran journalist P A Seshan (he will be turning 100 in July) was honoured as he was ushered in a wheel chair. The journalist, known as ‘Bhisma Pitamaha’ of financial journalism, mumbled faintly after receiving the award that , “I will remember the day for long but not sure for how long.”

The award for the category ‘Indian Economic Policy and Macro economic Issues’ was presented to Raghu mohan from Business   World.

Arun Duggal, chairman of Shriram Capital said that the award recognizes the multi-faceted role that financial journalists play in setting up the knowledge base in reporting key issues of the Indian economy.

The entries have been deeply studied by a distinguished panel of independent jury comprising Gopal srinivasan, chairman and managing director of TVS Capital, Dr Nachiket Mor, chairman of CARE India ltd, Srinivasan K Swamy, chairman and managing director of RK Swamy BBDO, Ashu Suyash, chief executive officer of L&T Mutual Fund and Adit Jain, chairman of IMA Asia.