Kolkata: Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, who on Monday won the 2019 Nobel for Economics, said Indian economy is on shaky ground.
The data currently available do not hold any assurance for the country's economic revival anytime soon, he stated.
"The condition of the Indian economy is on shaky ground. After witnessing the present (growth) data, just can't be sure about it (revival of the economy in the near future)."
"In the last five-six years, at least we could witness some growth, but now that assurance is also gone," Banerjee told a news channel from the US.
The 58-year-old economist, who bagged the coveted prize jointly with his wife Esther Duflo and another economist Michael Kremer for his "experimental approach to alleviating global poverty", said he never thought he would get a Nobel so early in his career.
Read more:World applauds Indian origin economist Abhijit Banerjee for winning Nobel
"I have been doing this research for the last twenty years. We have tried offering solutions towards alleviation of poverty," Banerjee, who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said.
Nobel winners Banerjee, Duflo worked with Bandhan for anti-poverty programme
Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo were closely associated with city-based Bandhan Bank for an anti-poverty programme, a top official of the lender said.
Banerjee and French-American Duflo were associated with Bandhan Bank in 2011, when it was a micro-finance institution (MFI), for analysing the impact assessment of anti-poverty programme - Targetting the Hard-Core Poor (THP).
"They (Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo) have closely worked with Bandhan for the THP programme. We share a close relation with both of them since 2006," MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, Chandrasekhar Ghosh, told PTI.
The paper authored by Banerjee and Duflo -- Targetting the Hard-Core Poor - An impact Assessment -- focused on the baseline and post-programme surveys with nearly 1,000 households.
The theory behind the programme was that the poor are trapped in extreme poverty, due to lack of assets and inability to use financial intermediation.
