Took decisions in interest of common man, says Pranab
"This is yet another tax scandal," said Member of Parliament Margaret Hodge, chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises public expenditure and revenue-raising.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He will now run for President of India as the candidate of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
"I know that not every decision that I have taken may not be right, (but) my decisions were taken in the interest of the common man," Mr Mukherjee told waiting media as he left his North Block office one last time en route to the Prime Minister's office.
“I feel honoured and humbled as my nomination as a candidate to run for President as the candidate of UPA-II," he said . "Yet standing on the brink of such an honor, I also feel a tinge of sentiment at the thought of leaving behind my life as a political activist over four decades."
"I have travelled a distance in my life," Mr. Mukherjee said, adding that he was "ready to embark on a new journey", even as he joked that he would miss being stopped by journalists each time he stepped in or out of his car.
Mr. Mukherjee will also resign from the primary membership of the Congress Party. On Monday, after meeting his colleagues in the Congress Working Committee for a last time, he said leaving the party was an ‘emotional moment’.
Mr. Mukherjee, who stewarded the Indian economy through the financial crisis that hit in late 2008, will hand over his ministry to the Prime Minister. Sources said Mr. Singh will likely keep additional charge of the finance portfolio.
Mr. Mukkherjee’s tenure has been marked by both a bullish uptrend In economic growth and the stock markets in his first two years as Finance Minister, but the past year has eroded much of those gains as a result of growing fiscal deficit, falling rupee and a continuing global crisis arising of the euro zone.
Gaurang Shah, Assistant Vice President, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services told NDTV Profit that it is only a portfolio shift and the market may not read much into it. "Don't expect a major positive reaction by markets as problems in the economy will still remain despite the change," he added.
Echoing Shah's view, Lancelot D'Cunha, CEO, Sharyans Wealth Management, said that unless there is change in the policy, there will be no impact on the market. "Hence, the market will be driven by external factors more than the internal situation," he said.
India’s economic growth for the quarter ended March slumped to 5.3 per cent, the lowest in nine years, while the annual rate of growth slipped to 6.5 per cent after having been above 8 per cent for the previous two years.
Mr. Mukherjee's tenure also saw criticism from experts. Earlier this month, ratings agency Fitch downgraded India’s growth outlook to negative, citing "heightened risks that India's medium- to long-term growth potential will gradually deteriorate if further structural reforms are not hastened".
It included among those risks measures to enhance the effectiveness of the government and create a more positive operational environment for business and private investments.
Standard and Poor’s also warned that India’s sovereign rating could be downgraded below investment grade, citing slowing GDP growth and political roadblocks to economic policymaking as some of the factors that could lead to such an action.
