Economy Needs Multiple Growth Engines: Arun Jaitley

Indian economy needs multiple engines of growth while the government focus now is on reviving private investments, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

A day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dismissed one of the Congress party's demands on the Goods and Services Tax as "preposterous", senior Congress leader Kamal Nath told NDTV's Vikram Chandra in an interview at Davos that the differences between the two sides "can be ironed out."

India was on Thursday ranked 22nd on an inaugural list of the world's best countries, which was released here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting and is topped by Germany.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said normalisation of ties with India and restoration of the bilateral composite dialogue can give a big boost to the trade relations between the countries.

Government today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not scheduled to travel to Davos for World Economic Forum meeting, debunking reports that he has decided to skip the visit to "avoid" a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Recovering from a major terror attack back home, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said its resolve to fight terrorism is getting stronger every day and is taking very decisive action against terrorists.

India remains a bright spot of economic growth, but it will have to stick to its reform agenda and like any other political system, a lot will depend on the government of the day to carry forward the reforms, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said on Thursday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry says next week's planned start of Syria peace talks may be delayed by a day or two.

China has reached a "point of no return" and the country has to now rely on innovation and reforms rather than depend on investment alone for economic growth, a top official of a Chinese bank said on Thursday.

Global growth should improve once commodity prices stabilise, World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said on Thursday, adding that India was the top "bright spot" among emerging markets.

A panel of leaders are talking about South Asia at the World Economic Forum 2016 at Davos. Here are highlights of the session:

Poor communication by China's economic managers has led to uncertainty and exacerbated market fears, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Thursday at the annual Davos summit of economic and business leaders.

As the WEF debates ways to master the fourth industrial revolution, top banker Chanda Kochhar today said financial sector has rapidly adopted the new technology and ICICI bank is targeting total transactions worth Rs 80,000 crore through mobile banking by the end of this fiscal.

Confident of utilising the headroom available to the Indian economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said it needs some additional growth engines and the focus now is on reviving private investments.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday said China should communicate better with its financial market.

Cash won't be around in a decade, the chief executive of one of Europe's biggest banks predicted on Wednesday.

Nearly half of those questioned also expect an artificial intelligence machine to be sitting on a corporate board of directors within the next decade.

Expecting Indian economy to continue to improve, top banker Chanda Kochhar today said India is in a "sweet spot" amid the global economy witnessing a low-growth and low-inflation environment.

The end of ultra-loose monetary policy and the divergence between central banks in the United States and Europe are contributing to recent volatility in financial markets, top bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos said.

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said that "we are in a world of make believe," and wondered "what exactly are the fundamentals?"