The Indian economy has tremendous potential and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be growing at 9-10 per cent, according to former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.

“I believe, and I have always believed, the Indian economy has tremendous potential. I also believe that we really don’t need any experts, domestic or foreign, to tell us what to do.

“We know what has to be done. We have the potential. We have tremendous capability amongst our people. The lacunae or the weakness has always been implementation,” Rajan said at the launch of his book “I do what I do” in Mumbai.

Rajan, who is now Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said “We talk, we talk, we talk but we don’t do. There are periods when we have done. And those are the periods of tremendous achievement and tremendous growth. I think that is what we need to do. We just need to say, we are going to do/ implement.”

In the longer term, Rajan felt that the possibilities in the economy are tremendous as the country has fantastic entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial communities that can be harnessed, and capability to put large satellites, rockets into space.

“...So, we have the capability. The question is why isn’t everyone of us rising to our potential,” said the former RBI Governor.

He emphasised that there has to be a sense that the country can do it (take the economy to the next level), not in terms of false pride but with a sense of national purpose that “we aim to make ourselves focus primarily on economics, not on all this side distractions of this and that. Focus on the economics and make sure we reach the middle income in the next 10-12 years.”