(Bloomberg) --
A top Indian official said there's no need for the government to take immediate steps to support the economy following a crash in oil prices that has sent financial markets into a tailspin.
“No measures are required because these are exogenous factors on which sometimes markets react,” Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty told Bloomberg News in New Delhi on Monday. “The country's internal economy is absolutely stable.”
Panic gripped financial markets Monday as the world braced for a full-blown price war in oil. India's S&P BSE Sensex stock index slumped more than 4%, sovereign bonds rose to their highest since 2009 and the rupee weakened.
India's financial system is facing its own problems following the rescue last week of the nation's fourth-largest private lender.
Chakraborty said a lower oil price “always benefits our country,” while declining to say what it would mean for monetary policy. He added that the economy “is robust” and “there is no liquidity issue in the market, with respect to credit or otherwise.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Vrishti Beniwal in New Delhi at vbeniwal1@bloomberg.net;Siddhartha Singh in New Delhi at ssingh283@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold
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