Crisis showed resilience of Indian economy: Standard Chartered Bank

The crisis that could have happened to India Inc, says Jaspal Bindra, of Stqndard Chartered Bank. In the first place, it has differentiated India as an economy which is resilient, and can maintain at a minimum level a 4 to 5 per cent growth rate.

And then, as he points out, "before the crisis India Inc was like on a confidence drug, with a huge amount of arrogance. Now the confidence is back, but without the arrogance," he points out, a good thing according to him.

Back home, Stanchart is on track for its planned listin on the Indian stock exchange, as soon as the markets start looking good . "As of last week, they were looking very good," he says.

A Davos long-timer, Mr Bindra is in the unique position of being a banker from a different world, almost, compared to the kind of bashing his western brethren are getting. But politicisation of the issue, he warns, and any major changes pushed through from the west will hit him as well.

Regulation, he says, is good, and Stanchart accepts the Walker Committee report for more sensible structuring of compensation and clawbacks of bonuses. But the danger of over-regulation triggers fears of creating confusion.

This year, he says Davos is far more confident than last year -- and the political and non-business presence is just gettting bigger. But like everyone else, he's very wary of the future -- there's still too much leverage in the system, too much cheap money whether with governments or with banks. "The danger is that the longer this goes on, people will begin to believe its the normal." he says.

Eventually, governments have to withdraw stimulus, sooner or later, striking the balance -- but then any withdrawal can be seen as premature, he points out, stressin that some economies like Australia have tried it, and it hasn't brought the world down.

Mr Bindra is also bullish on the Chinese economy -- despite a recent WEF report pointing out that one of the major risks the world is facing is a hard landing of the Chinese economy. Mr Bindra is of the view that China's political system gives it the flexibility to respond immediately, and accurately to any sudden shocks. "Besides its large financial reserves makes China able to absord shocks for much longer," he says.