deepak mohanty : economic and financial developments in mizoram speech by mr deepak mohanty, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the aizawl club, mizoram, 19 december 2013. * * * the assistance provided by p. k. nayak, s. suraj and s. nath is acknowledged. i am happy to be in this picturesque state of mizoram, the land of rolling hills, valleys, rivers and lakes. the state has a strategic location as it shares much of its border with bangladesh and myanmar. it covers 0. 6 per cent of the national geographic area and accounts for 0. 1 per cent of national population. with second highest literacy rate in the country, the state has great potential for economic development. access to finance is an important prerequisite for economic development. in the recent years the reserve bank of india ( rbi ) has pursued the objective of financial inclusion with renewed vigour. some progress has been achieved but there are miles to go. governor dr. raghuram g. rajan has emphasised financial inclusion as one of the five pillars of the rbi ’ s financial development plank : “ … to expand access to finance to small and medium enterprises, the unorganised sector, the poor, and remote and underserved areas of the country, though technology, new business practices and new organisational structure. ” 1 financial inclusion poses additional challenges in the north - eastern states given the relatively low level of banking penetration and inadequate infrastructure. against this background, i briefly delineate the economic and financial structure of the state, highlight our financial inclusion initiatives and conclude with some thoughts on policy challenges on the way forward. economic structure india experienced accelerated gdp growth rate in the 2000s. obviously, this growth experience was shared by many states. in line with the national economy, mizoram also experienced pick up in its growth. even as the growth momentum at the national level was dented following the onset of global financial crisis in 2007 – 08, the performance of mizoram ’ s economy was better even in the post - crisis period. consequently, the share of mizoram ’ s gross state domestic product ( gsdp ) in the all - india gdp rose from 0. 08 per cent in 2006 – 07 to 0. 10 per cent during 2011 – 12 ( chart 1 ). “ the five pillars of rbi ’ s financial sector policies ”, speech by governor raghuram g. rajan

, japan, china and taiwan. 15. estimates suggest that about 90 per cent of india ’ s waste is currently disposed off by open dumping and landfilling. presently, the country has more than 36, 000 hazardous waste generating industries, producing approximately 6 million tonnes of hazardous wastes per annum. around 50 per cent of this can be recycled, which is not being done. this leads to hazardous materials getting disposed off into the environment and causing grave danger to living beings. it is also estimated that approximately 55 million tonnes of municipal solid wastes are generated in urban areas of india annually, which otherwise could be a valuable potential source for power generation for an energy deficient country. 16. in order to prevent wastages of this kind, governments and developmental agencies should work together to help change people ’ s mindset on waste and discourage wasteful practices by food producers, supermarkets, industrial units and consumers. incentives could be provided to encourage adoption and implementation of such policies. the union budget 2013 – 14 has announced that cities and municipalities would be encouraged to take up waste - to - energy projects in public - private partnership ( ppp ) mode. such municipalities implementing waste - to - energy projects will be supported through different instruments such as viability gap funding, repayable grants and low cost capital. sustainable usage of natural resources 17. apart from reducing waste, in order to ensure sustainable development, we also need to use our natural resources judiciously and in an environment - friendly manner. particular attention is required to be paid to conservation of energy, given that any development process is bound to be energy intensive. as rightly pointed out by the un secretary general, ban ki - moon, sustainable energy is the golden thread that links economic growth, social equity and a healthier environment. with global economic development, global energy demand is expected to double between now and 2050, energy prices are projected to rise and remain volatile, making imports a costly proposition for india. for a power deficient nation like india, need of the hour is to explore newer means, particularly, more environment friendly and endogenous ones rather than depending solely on coal and oil, where our dependence on imports is high. in this context, natural gas is a good option where domestic potential is huge given our huge reserves. our attempt should be to further exploit the huge potential from this environment friendly source. india has also shown commitment towards generation of 22, 000 mw of solar energy by 2020. several parts uk ’ s institution of mechanical