New Delhi: Asian Development Bank (ADB) on August 13 lauded the "impressive" pace of structural reforms by India but asked New Delhi to be on guard against corporate accounting malpractices that could have a deleterious effect on the economy.

"There has been an acceleration in the pace of structural reforms this year and this augurs well for the economy," Sultan Hafeez Rahman, director of the South Asia Operations Co-ordination Division of the ADB, said.

On the recent spate in global accounting scams by some leading corporates, he said this had strengthened the need to bring in corporate governance and financial sector reforms.

"These issues need to be addressed as there could be a long-term impact on the competitiveness of the economy and the credibility of the economy as a safe investment haven. Hence, countries like India need to guard against that," he said.

Rahman also said that while the pace of structural reforms was laudable, there was a need to sustain the pace of reforms.

Commenting on the impact of the drought situation in several parts of the country, Rahman said since monsoon plays an important role in the Indian economy it is bound to impact the growth rate.

"Though we haven't revised our earlier estimate of 6 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the current fiscal so far, we are maintaining a close watch on the fall-out of the drought situation and will make an adjustment of the growth rate if we have to," he added.

PTI