Blasts will not derail economic growth, say govt, industry

New Delhi/Mumbai, Jul 14 (PTI) Condemning the gory act
of terror that once again hit the Indian financial capital,
the government and the industry Thursday said such cowardly
acts will not derail India's robust economic growth.
"(I am) fully confident that our economy and markets
will rise above this incident and continue to show robust
growth," Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Echoing Mukherjee's sentiments, Indian Home Minister P
Chidambaram said in Mumbai that the blasts were not aimed at
unnerving the business centres of the financial capital of
but were targeted to hit the congested and populated areas.
"I don't think it should be treated as an attack on
India's commercial capital as I said the last attack was on
26/11, this attack after 31 months is regrettable. I want to
assure that India will continue to prosper...this cannot be
seen as an attack on India's commercial capital," he said.
Three serial blasts Wednesday in Mumbai claimed 18
lives and left over 100 injured.
The blasts, Chidamabram said, cannot be interpreted
to be an attack on markets. "Blasts have taken place in Dadar,
in Opera...are bizarre. I think they chose the places because
of the density of the population and very congested nature of
these areas", he added.
It was business as usual in stock markets, considered
to be the barometer of business sentiments, with the benchmark
Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange settling they day 22
points higher after a very active trade. The total turnover
rose to Rs 2,782.36 crore from Rs 2,578.92 crore Wednesday.
Industry chamber Assocham said fundamentals of the
economy are very strong and the blasts will not impact
investments coming to India.