As Indian rupee touched a new low on Thursday, Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen said he was not appalled at the fall.

“Indian rupee has fallen in value. I don’t regard it as great disaster. It might be quite helpful for Indian exports. It is fact that several countries have lived with the undervalued currency,” said Prof Sen at the launch of UN ESCAP sub-regional office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi.

On Thursday, the Indian rupee fell by 46 paise to a record low of Rs 54.17 per US dollar in trade, breaching the Rs 54 per dollar-mark for the first time in history on sustained foreign capital outflows. Giving reference of India’s neighbour, he added that “China has lived with the undervalued yuan for several years”.

However, the economist who currently teaches at Harvard University praised India’s growth. “I think basic Indian growth picture is very good.” But he had a warning too. “The translation of growth in changing lifestyle is very slow in India,” he lamented.

Among the South Asian nations, 20 years ago, India was at a far better position in terms of human development index, Sen said. “Now India is just better than Pakistan in social indicators in the South Asian region. I am very concerned. Pakistan saves India from placing at the bottom.”

According to Sen, maintaining high pace of growth is very important. “We have to think of alternative ways to do it,” the economist said.

However, he was all praise for several developed countries for the way they handled their economy. “During the economic crisis, developing countries have been more sensible than the developed countries.”

He also met prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and talked for an hour on economic crisis, falling Indian rupee, democracy and the Anna Hazare movement.

Sen was less enthused with the way Anna Hazare is protesting against graft in the country. In a clear reference to Anna Hazare and his brand of prescription, the Nobel laureate said, “I am not believer in the way exemplary punishment being meted out by the panchayats to deal with people who drink (alcohol).”

He said that there are other issues to be raised where India has some of the worst figures in the world. In fact, he was referring to maximum number of children facing undernourishment in the country. “India has the worst record in child undernourishment in the world. It is a horrifying story. The government must pay utmost attention to such issues,” he told the gathering.

Sen also said that corruption is the easiest issue in some ways to highlight, because it catches people’s attention very quickly as against underperformance in the social sectors. “It is good that corruption has become an important issue…however, it is amazing to see how other issues are not being highlighted.”