were credit - linked with rs. 9. 3 crore, while 4, 763 general purpose credit cards ( gccs ) were issued through nfa with outstanding credit of rs. 9. 3 crore. fourth, in order to strengthen the financial education campaign a financial literacy & credit counseling centre ( flcc ) was opened at verna, in south goa. similarly, in order to make the financial inclusion drive more effective, a rural self employment training institute ( rseti ) was also opened at verna, in south goa providing technical training on self employment ventures. as a success story it may be noted that 12 courses were conducted and 230 below poverty line ( bpl ) beneficiaries were trained of which 55 have started gainful employment activities. fifth, 71 farmers ’ clubs and 20 joint liability groups ( jlgs ) were formed by nabard. sixth, the recent drive by slbc to route the mgnrega payments through smart cards under it enabled financial services will further strengthen the objective of financial inclusion. policy challenges let me now turn to broader macroeconomic policy challenges. as i mentioned, the reserve bank has initiated measures for further spread of banking and promotion of financial inclusion. nevertheless, to accelerate the pace of growth of goa, i may highlight a few challenges that lie ahead. first, initiatives need to be taken to promote sustainable industrial development compatible with the unique bio - diversity of the state which, in turn, would generate local employment. bis central bankers ’ speeches second, investment in infrastructure could be scaled up through the public - private partnership model to support industry and services. third, there is a need to increase agricultural productivity and promote diversification in agriculture and allied activities. fourth, as food inflation has been a major concern in the recent period, an appropriate supply chain management and augmentation of production of vegetables and protein items at state level will be helpful in addressing supply side inflation pressures. fifth, on the fiscal front, rationalizing the state deficits without compromising on allocation of resources for the social sector will be a major challenge. therefore, sustaining a higher growth trajectory becomes important for higher revenue generation to support high capital outlays. sixth, the high level of literacy and human development provides ample opportunity for further growth of knowledge - based industries. however, for achieving this, goa needs to provide knowledge workers on a large scale. this entails strengthening of technical and higher education. seventh, there is scope for further credit penetration. in this regard, banks can

a definitive acknowledgement that he has clearly transcended the boundaries of a single discipline of economics, and turned into an influential public intellectual at the global level. 6. i have not read arvind ’ s new book. but having been governor for three years now, i know that one of the exclusive privileges of being the governor is to be able to talk about books without having read them. however, i have read about the eclipse, and so let me go on with my own understanding of arvind ’ s thesis in the book. 7. arvind thesis comprises three points : ( i ) as measured by an index made up of the share of world gdp, trade and investment, china will overtake america as the world ’ s dominant economic power sooner than people think. by 2030, china ’ s share of global economic power will match america ’ s in the 1970s and britain ’ s a century before. ( ii ) the three forces that will dictate this race to the top by china will be ( a ) demography, ( b ) convergence, which is the scope for “ catch up ” and ( c ) “ gravity ” which is a measure of the trade potential of a country. bis central bankers ’ speeches ( iii ) this projected rise of china to the top is imminent. the world should prepare for this through policies for reconciling china ’ s rise with continued openness in the global economic order. 8. arvind ’ s conclusions are clearly contentious and contestable. however, in the best practice of intellectual integrity : ( i ) he clearly lays out his assumptions about us and chinese growth rates. ( ii ) i believe he actually makes very conservative estimates above china ’ s growth rate relative to its stellar performance over the last two decades. ( iii ) he also argues out clearly why china will overtake america in the twenty - first century faster than america overtook britain in the nineteenth century. arvind ’ s arguments 9. arvind ’ s arguments and conclusions are persuasive for many reasons. ( i ) china has put out dazzling growth performance over the last two decades. we may dispute the fine numbers, but there is no doubt that what china has achieved by way of lifting hundreds of millions of poor people out of poverty is by far one of the most spectacular economic achievements in human history. ( ii ) last year, china overtook america as the world ’ s largest manufacturer, and overtook japan as the world ’