•My guest this week — the man who’s unexpectedly in the hot seat. The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission is not meant to occupy the hottest of hot seats in the government. But today, Montek, a role you didn’t bargain for — having to be the main crisis fighter for this government?

We have a lot of crisis fighters but we are certainly part of the team that is doing what needs to be done.

•And is the team doing what needs to be done?

I think so. I mean it’s a very difficult situation not just for us but around the world and if you read any newspaper, you can see that.

•If there are any newspapers left to be read. Most of them are going bankrupt now.

I was just reading the Financial Times talking about Britain’s problems. You look at any American newspaper talking about what’s happening in the US. This is a global crisis and every country is trying to meet it by deploying a multiplicity of instruments. I mean there is monetary policy, there’s fiscal policy, there’s confidence-building, all of that. And it’s clear that you know for the current year, 2007-08, with the latest estimated growth of about 7.1% which the CSO has come out with... it’s clear that India is the second fastest growing country. We’ve weathered these six months exceptionally well. The challenge is what’s the next year going to be like.

•Isn’t that a bit misleading because you’ve had growth in the first six months. If you look at the last two quarters of the year they’re going to be as disastrous as any other country.

... contd.