New York: P Chidambaram, Indian finance minister stated that fiscal deficit will be lowered to below 3% by the coming year (2008). This is the gap between the government’s spending and grosses from sources excluding extra borrowing.

While lecturing at an occasion organised by the Asia Society in New York as part of the Incredible India@60 campaign, Chidambaram said, “And we are obliged to wipe out the revenue deficit too. God willing, by 2008-09, we will. Very simplistically, think of revenue deficits as a loan you take to throw feed a few hundred people at a wedding; the loan will have to be repaid, but you lose eventually because the expenditure did not create any assets.”

“India is indeed incredible. The Himalayas, the Ganga and the Taj Mahal can stand as sentinels of Incredible India. But my concern is how to make India more credible. To put the backdrop into position, thanks to colonisation, India was a late comer to globalization. We’re trying to make up for that. Over the last four years, he explained, India has grown at 8.4%. "This year we are growing at 9.6% and we will sustain growth in double digits for the next couple of years,” he continued.

Explicating the growth drivers, Chidambaram said it is chiefly being motored by consumption and the other variable includes investment funds.

"Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows the rate of investment in the current fiscal is 20% higher than the previous year,” he said.

Add to this the information; he stated that both labour and funds are representing augmented efficiency gains. Lastly, he said, there are people. Unlike many countries in the west and a speedily ageing China, India’s working population is more than the number of people who rely on them for livelihood.

“It will remain that way surely until 2030 and perhaps until 2040, But there is much work to be done,” he added.

Chidambaram said 26% of Indians live in horrible poverty. To make them a part of India’s growth, more reforms are required.

"But in the long run, these models won't be sufficient. We need a workforce that is trained and skilled,” he added.

By next 7-8 years, Chidambaram said, administration is following a plan to guarantee that every Indian child goes to school and enrolment rates in colleges go up to the 12-15% levels. The world average is 45%, he added.