India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday has said that any economic impact arising from the recent tensions with neighbouring country Pakistan (such as the surgical strikes) will be "extremely marginal."
Jaitley, addressing a gathering at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said that any impact that has been felt on the markets and the rupee has been "temporary," and that the foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country continues to rise.
"Even recently, when the news came that India had made certain surgical strikes at the launch pads where the terrorists used to cross into Indian boundaries, there was obviously a certain amount of speculation as far as the markets were concerned. The impact was not what it would have been years ago. Economic impact arising from recent tensions will be extremely marginal," Jaitley was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
The statement comes at a time when tensions between India and Pakistan escalated on the backdrop of the Indian Army carrying out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which had resulted in heavy terrorist causalities.
Pakistan has denied India's claims of having launched the surgical strikes, which took place 10 days after terrorists, infiltrated an Army camp in Kashmir's Uri, leaving 19 soldiers dead.
