New Delhi: Emerging economies face new challenges such as inward looking policies and protectionism, finance minister Arun Jaitley  said as he reiterated that India  remains a bright spot despite the sluggish global environment.

"But there are newer challenges, most notably a possible shift towards inward-looking policy platforms and protectionism, a sharper than expected tightening in global financial conditions that could interact with balance sheet weaknesses in parts of the Euro area and increased geopolitical tensions, including unpredictable economic policy of USA," Jaitley said in his address at the second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB ) or the BRICS  bank.

He said in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), the overall growth is picking up, although growth prospects diverge across countries. The finance minister said the news from BRICS countries is generally encouraging with the Chinese economy holding firm amidst a major rebalancing.

"India continues to grow at a robust rate. Russia and Brazil, who were in the negative growth territory in 2016, are expected to turn to positive growth in 2017 and 2018," he said. "Throughout this challenging time, India has remained a bright spot among the major economies. As per IMF's assessment in January 2017, India's growth in 2016 would be 6.6% and is projected to grow at 7.2% and 7.7% in 2017 and 2018," Jaitley said.

He said the government had proposed projects worth about $2 billion for NDB funding, and hoped that they would be taken up by the board expeditiously.

"We shall work with the NDB to develop a strong shelf of projects in specific areas such as smart cities, renewable energy, urban transport, including metro railways, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply," Jaitley said.

He said the uniqueness of NDB should lie in faster loan appraisal.