India may experience "takleef (pain)" in the near short term due to the Iran war, but there is confidence things will turn for the good as someone like Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the country, industrialist Sanjiv Goenka told NDTV.
The US-Israeli attack on Iran that started on February 28 triggered the worst oil price shock in history and led to an International Monetary Fund downgrade of its outlook for the global economy and a warning that prolonged conflict could push the world to the brink of recession.
"Undeniably, there's an impact. And we have one company where fuel is an important raw material and therefore it's a huge impact on that but frankly there's also confidence that somebody like Narendra Modi, or Narendra Modi specifically, leads us," Goenka, chairman of the RPSG Group, told Rahul Kanwal during NDTV's Walk The Talk show.
The US and Iran declared a two-week ceasefire on April 7.
"Ye bharosa hai ki Modi hai toh hoga, 2-3 mahine takleef bhi hogi toh uske aage chal ke achha hi hona hai (It is the conviction that since Modi is at the helm it will happen; even if there is some hardship for two or three months, things are bound to turn out well in the long run)," he underscored.
The Iran conflict has pushed up prices of oil, gas and fertiliser, India's import bill is likely to rise in April.
When the industrialist was asked if the consumer is holding back on purchases, he said, "I think there is some impact and people are wanting to conserve resources and capital but as far as we are concerned, we realise 2-3 months will be challenging. It is about this whole India story. It is about this great potential India hai."
"There is confidence when you have Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs, he will make sure that India gets its due, soon enough," he added.
"But I think going forward, the faith in India, in the Indian consumer, the Indian market, in the Indian ecosystem is so high that I think is going to bounce back," he said.
India's economy was forecast to grow by more than 7% in the fiscal year that began on April 1, according to government estimates, while inflation was expected to remain close to the central bank's target of 4%.
But a sharp rise in oil prices since the outbreak of conflict between Iran and US and Israel is expected to bring down growth sharply and spur inflationary pressures.
The concerns have been reflected in the financial markets, with equities and bond benchmarks declining and the rupee hitting a record low since the war began at the end of February.
