India\\\'s new finance minister Jaitley targets growth revival

India's new finance minister Arun Jaitley said restoring growth and containing inflation are the key challenges facing the country’s government, shortly after being handed the critical portfolio today. Jaitley, a top corporate lawyer, said the government was given a strong mandate for reforming the slumping economy, which has been growing at below five per cent, its slowest pace in a decade. ‘I am conscious of the fact that I am taking over at a challenging time, particularly when there is a need to restore confidence in the Indian economy,’ the 61-year-old told reporters in New Delhi. ‘The challenges are very obvious. We have to restore back the pace of growth, contain inflation, and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation itself,’ he said in his first comments since taking the job. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his new cabinet on Tuesday morning, according to UNB.