Core sector has to invest now: SBI chairman

INDIA DEFINITELY NEEDS to grow at 8% to progress, and this needs consumption and private capital expenditure, said Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, chairman, State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in the country with a deposit base of ₹52.29 lakh crore.

- Hitesh Vyas, George Mathew & Sandeep Singh

"India definitely requires a growth rate of 8% to progress, but this (current) growth rate (of around 6%) is not to be really worried about. We must realise that the slowdown which we are talking about could be a blip. The long-term story of India is intact," Setty said in an interview. According to him, while private capital expenditure is happening in certain sectors, the core sectors such as steel and cement must start to invest. "They all have reached the capacity utilisation of 75-76%," he said.