Great Opportunity For India To Attract Investments, Says Moody's Analytics

India's recent GDP numbers were strong and it positions the country as one of the strongest growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Steve Cochrane of Moody's Analytics.

"6.4-6.5% is the GDP we have forecasted, which is pretty strong for India," said Cochrane, chief APAC economist at Moody's Analytics, in an interview with BQ Prime's Muralidhar Swaminathan

One of the positive factors that helps keep the Indian economy going is that the gross value added is broad across industries and not just sticking to a specific industry, Cochrane said.

Foreign firms are looking to diversify from China and see opportunities in several economies along with India, Cochrane said. "There is (a) lot of competition out there, but there is (a) great opportunity for India to attract some of the investments and use that to expand the economy."

Explaining the investors' view, Cochrane said there was an upgrade in India's manufacturing sector and it is going forward. There are many bureaucratic rules that need to be understood and these factors cause investors to look very carefully at India, he said.

On India's labour force, Cochrane said there was an unequal distribution of talent force, which can be a limitation.

A factor contributing to deflation in India was the economy taking crude oil from Russia at discounted prices and this has helped in keeping prices of basic commodities down, he said.

Cochrane said they were not taking their eyes off from North America or the European economies because they were also very important as trading partners for India.

But the risk of recession seems to be easing both in North America or Europe, he said. "The U.S. economy looks fairly strong. If the Federal Reserve decides to raise more than our expectations, it could put brakes on the economy."