Don't limit India to any 'isms', appeals Mohan Bhagwat

Mumbai: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Monday said India should not limit itself to any 'isms' like capitalism or communism for the success of its economic policies.

"For making any policy a success, one should focus on its intended benefits and the data or numbers. The test of any policy is to see whether it has reached the last man in the pyramid," he said in an address at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Bhagwat's remarks on the state of the Indian economy came during the release of a book, "Socio-Economic Dynamics of Indian Society" at the BSE auditorium before a select gathering.

He said that the world has not been able to meet its needs with the available means, so we must avoid becoming enslaved to any one theory.

Calling for boosting exports, Bhagwat said India must sell qualitative goods instead of merely "dumping products".

"We need a proper balance between agriculture, industry and commerce. In order to lead the world economy, we will need to craft a modern economic strategy through our own model of development," he said.

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Urging for the need to move away from agriculture and farming for the country's growth, Bhagwat said that the Indian economy will be driven by MSME enterprises in the future.

Noting that at one time, India controlled 24 percent of the world's business, Bhagwat said the times have changed now and also urged the people to consume with restraint without unnecessarily boosting demands endlessly.

Touching upon digitization of the economy, he opined that it is not possible to achieve "a completely cashless society", stressing that there will be some cash while others may use cashless currency (digital options, cards), but all cannot do that.

Earlier in his briefing, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kuar said that it has taken the present government three and a half years to fix the problems inherited from the previous regime, but now the economy is poised on the edge of upward growth.

He expressed confidence of 7.5 percent growth in the current fiscal, going to an average of 8.5 between 2018-2022 and then onwards at 10 percent growth.