The rhetoric of protectionism in developed economies and unpredictable global slowdown have not affected India and it is determined to grow with focus on investments, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.
"What strikes us today is two important factors - unpredictable global slowdown and the rhetoric of protectionism in developed economies - have not affected India," he said at 'Make In India-Karnataka conference' here. Not a single sound or even 'a whisper' of protectionism is being heard in India and such talk is there only in the developed economies, he said, adding that this itself is a tribute to the fact that the country is willing to accept investments and tune its policies.
Jaitley said there is tremendous pressure on government policy makers because of peoples' impatience to see India grow at a faster rate and get rid of poverty, among other things.
He said the environment supporting reform has never been as supported in the past as today and so it is the responsibility of both the central and state governments 'to put themselves together' and look at the road map of continuing this path of growth.
The minister also said that in spite of India's growth being pegged at 7 to 7.5 per cent growth rate, it is not a satisfied nation and has hunger to grow even faster. "We are not satisfied with the tag of being the fastest economy in the world. We think we have a potential to do better," he said.