Pranab Mukherjee’s illustrious career as a Parliamentarian came to an end as he was given a farewell by council of ministers in the Congress ranks. So, it was end of an era of trials and tribulations for the trouble shooter in the UPA Ministry. The Senior Pro completed 40 years of active service before bidding good-bye from the Ministerial post just to contest for the Presidential post as the candidate of the ruling party. Overall, one can say it was testing time for the Finance Minister and he is leaving the scene of action at the right time. The country is facing its worst economical situation with Industrial growth touching a new low and the rupee falling to a new low against US dollar. As a Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee failed to win big and small investors’ confidence and the rating agencies were just waiting to see the country’s rating touch BBB and expect it to go touch negative rating soon. At this stage, we have arrived at the option 3 level of giving our Foreign Exchange Reserve to oil companies to stabilize our position for the time being and help Rupee to recover from its free fall all these days.
Fortunately, Finance Minister left the scene of action and it is time to look for new policy and reforms and of course a new Finance Minister, to steady the boat sooner or later.
— C.K. Ramani, Sion