I have maintained that the people of India are ahead of their governments. The people of India are at least 10 to 15 years ahead of their governments.

I think people respect governments that take decisions and act decisively.

I respect the view of a rating agency, but I do not make a budget for the rating agency. I make a budget for the people of India.

People understand what is good for them in the long run. In the long run, what is good for people is that India's economy continues to grow at clipping pace, 8% and above, that itself brings host of benefits to the people. It brings better roads, it brings better schools, brings more money to the communities, it brings more jobs.

If you go back to any period in India's history, all the hard decisions this country had to take were taken when the Congress was in power.

When I came back to India after Harvard Business School, I started as a lawyer and as a trade union leader.