People's obsession with gold led to economic crisis: Dr Narendra Jadhav

Member of Planning Commission and Advisory Council, Government of India Dr Narendra Jadhav said that people’s obsession with gold has increased the current account (CAD) deficit of the country and hence has caused economic crisis.

“The surge in gold and oil imports led the country’s economy through a turbulent path and increased the CAD,” said Jadhav.

“Currently, CAD is at $88 billion. Gold imports account for $54 billion which is too high and similar is the case with the oil consumption,” he added. 

According to him, the government is trying to bring the CAD to $70 billion in the coming few months. 

CAD occurs when total imports of the goods and the services is greater than the exports and it makes the country a debtor to the rest of the world. 

“People should control their obsession with the precious metal and also restrain themselves from too much oil consumption,” he said.  

Jadhav was speaking at the 79th annual general body meeting (AGM) of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) in Pune on Sunday.

He said that though the reason behind the rupee slide was the global financial condition, everyone, including the media, blamed the government for its policies.

“However, when the rupee bounced back, the same media stated that it was due to the change in the economic condition at the global level,” he said, adding that the rupee bounced back due to positive changes at the global level. 

“After the US avoided the Syria war, improvement was seen on the rupee front,” he said. 

“The current fiscal year is somewhat looking good as due to the good monsoon this year, the industrial growth is expected to be 2.7 per cent, the service industry will be at 6.6 per cent and the agricultural growth is expected to 4.4 per cent,” he added.

‘I am keen to contest LS election’

Dr Narendra Jadhav said that he is interested in contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha Election in 2014. “I have been approached by the Congress to contest the election from Pune or Latur. However, I do not want to contest from Pune. I am open to contest from Latur,” he said, adding that he has been approached by another party too, but it is too early to divulge details.