Ritik Gupta
A mass rollout of vaccines against Covid-19 coupled with a rise in consumer demand will re-energise India’s economy with 11 percent growth in the fiscal year beginning April 1, reported Wam, citing the government’s annual economic survey predicted today.
Based on the survey, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present India’s annual budget to Parliament on Monday.
The budget is eagerly awaited by investors at home and abroad for a slew of measures that will push up India’s economy, facing a shrinkage of 7.7 percent in the ongoing financial year ending in two months.
With International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting that India will reclaim the status of world’s fastest-growing economy and projected its growth at 11.5 percent in 2021, experts on Wednesday said that India is rebounding to achieve the target of a $5 trillion economy, reported Times of India.
Ahead of the Union budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday signaled a major push to infrastructure, manufacturing, mobility, technology, and urbanisation and urged global investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in a “vibrant democracy with a business-friendly environment and a huge market”.
“I am inviting you personally, come and take advantage of the opportunities an inviting you personally, come and take advantage of the opportunities and link it with your future prospects. India is ready for a ready for any assistance that you may need,” the PM told a panel of global CEOs from ABB, Siemens, IBM, Siemens, IBM, Mastercard, NEC Corporation, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, and others at the World Economic Forum’s virtual summit.
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal termed the IMF projections for India as “Bright star in the global economy.”
“Bright Star in Global Economy: India to continue its growth story at rapid pace under PM @NarendraModi ji, with @IMFNews projecting an impressive 11.5% growth rate for India in 2021. It makes India only major economy to register double-digit growth in 2021,” Goyal tweeted.
DK Mishra, a market expert, said that the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted worldwide economies in a big way. Still, the Indian economy has come out of initial hits due to government and intense consumer demands.
With 10.72 million Coronavirus infections and 154,010 deaths since the onset of the pandemic, India’s economy took a heavy toll in the current financial year, which began in April last year.
But daily infections have been dropping steadily, which is reflected in the optimism in today’s economic survey.
“India’s caseload per million population is one of the lowest when compared globally,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare here said today.
“With the economy’s return to normalcy brought closer by the initiation of a mega vaccination drive, hopes of a robust recovery in the services sector, consumption, and investment have been rekindled,” the survey predicted.
The government’s Chief Economic Adviser, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, told the media after releasing the survey that “reforms must go on to enable India to realise its potential growth and erase the adverse impact of the pandemic.”
