According to Christine Lagarde, MD, International Monetary Fund (IMF), growth in India has picked up, even as the world economy is faced with subdued demand conditions. Lagarde said at her recent meeting with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.

During the meeting, issues relating to the Indian and the global economy, key priorities of Government of India as well as issues relating to the IMF quota and governance reforms were discussed.

"India is among the few major economies with a strong growth outlook. She said that growth in India has picked up, even as the world economy is faced with subdued demand conditions, particularly in Europe and Japan, and recent slowdown in China. IMF estimates that GDP growth in India this fiscal will be 7.2 to 7.4 per cent," Lagarde said.

Jaitley said that the Indian economy is fundamentally strong and forward looking. He elaborated the reforms under way and the commitment of the Government to accelerate growth while adhering to the path of fiscal discipline.

The Finance Minister further said that IMF has a crucial role to play in calming economic agents and financial markets to minimize the volatility in international financial markets. He called for early implementations of the 2010 IMF Quota and Governance Reforms.

The Finance Minister and the IMF Chief agreed to jointly host a high level conference on "Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future" in March 2016 in India. The conference would showcase that the Asia-Pacific region has rebounded quickly from the global financial crisis of 2008 and India, and several other countries in the region, have grown rapidly. This would be for the First time that such a Conference is being held in India. 
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