Monsoon will be good, says FM

New Delhi, May 20 (UNI) Asserting that the fundamentals of the economy were strong, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the monsoon would be ''good'', implying that buoyancy in the growth rate would be maintained.

''Economic fundamentals are strong. Our reserves are of about 163 billion dollars, inflation has been contained at less than four per cent, manufacturing has registered a growth rate of nine per cent and monsoon has set in. We expect a good monsoon,'' Mr Chidambaram told a press conference convened to clarify certain issues pertaining to the stock markets.

The bourses have been hammered in the last two trading sessions and have experienced high volatility.

''The India growth story continues to be a growth story,'' Mr Chidambaram said adding that investors must understand that this story is not just about India Inc, but also buoyancy in agriculture and other attempts to speed up development.

The substance of the Finance Ministers remarks was that while growth prospects continue to be bright, the turbulence in the stock markets was attributable to other factors, including hardening of global interest rates, emergence of other desitinations for FIIs which compete with India and crash in metal and some commodity prices.

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