Finance Minister P Chidambaram has completed one year in office on 31st July. The biggest challenge for India is to keep the growth momentum and to keep the inflation under control. In 2013, the finance ministry and RBI are facing another major challenge, the decline of Indian currency.

Finance Minister has expressed his views that the growth in India will continue and will be better than last year. He added that the focus is on growth, creating jobs and keeping the inflation under control. UPA-II has been blamed for policy paralysis. The government took some steps in the right direction in the past six months. The opening up of FDI in some sectors has save India from ratings downgrade by major agencies including Moody's and S&P. Finance Minister feels that the aversion of ratings downgrade is one of his biggest achievements during the tenure.

With currency decline, the country is facing pressure of higher oil import bill. The cascading effect of oil price rise on the prices for commodities and services across the country is another major issue which could lead to trouble for UPA, which will be facing elections in 2014.

The higher interest rates have led to lower demand for consumer durables. The investments in various sectors have dried and the growth has been declining. The GDP growth estimates have been revised many times during the year considering the lower IIP numbers.

India faces a major challenge as the Indian currency has touched all-time low against USD and Euro. UPA government could face major backlash in the upcoming elections as the economy faces tough time and the voters find it difficult to sustain the ever increasing prices.