Economy in right direction; need more animal spirit: Rajan

PTI

Confident about India's growth picking up further with "more animal spirit" and good monsoon, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today said the economy is on the right track though "true numbers" of GDP could be 1 per cent up or down.

"I would hope that with good monsoon, strong rural demand, with more animal spirit and public investment picking up pace...I think with all that coming together there will be need for private investment.

"We have some way to go. I am not saying that economy is where it should be. We do have work to do. We can celebrate when we see private investment strongly back on track and I think we are capable of much stronger growth that we have right now," Rajan said in interviews to TV channels.

On the controversy surrounding the GDP numbers based on new calculations, he said statisticians have done as good a job as they can and economic growth is significantly high as costs have come down.

"And really, what matters to us is change. And the change has been broadly in the positive direction...I think we are starting to change in the right direction," Rajan said.

He said there may be difference of 1 per cent on either side in the GDP numbers.