India’s stagflation should end soon, RBI chief Rajan tells Oxford varsity

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan told an audience at the UK's Oxford University on Monday that India's economic growth will rise above 5 per cent soon.

"The economy has been growing at a flat rate of 5 per cent, and hopefully we will see it picking up in the near future," he said.

Rajan also reiterated his view that stimulating growth can go hand in hand with curbing inflation. ''I have always stressed that stimulating growth and controlling inflation are not opposed to each other. Inflation is what is standing in the way of India's growth," he said.

Rajan was addressing student members of the Oxford Union Society (OUS) on his way to Switzerland, where he has meetings planned with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on 11 and 12 May.

He stressed that his comments to the students were off the record; and refused to address any political issues in view of the ongoing general elections in India.

But Rajan expressed confidence that whichever government comes to power will lay a clear path to revive growth as he answered a series of questions on the state of the Indian economy from students.

The senior economist joined a league of distinguished speakers at the OUS, which has hosted Queen Elizabeth II, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa in the past.