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‘Slowdown is a cyclic process’: Prakash Javadekar on economy
The gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, released last week, showed that growth was at 5%, a six-year low. GDP growth has been declining for five consecutive quarters now.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday tried to allay fears over a slowdown in the economy and said India is on a strong footing and heading towards achieving the target of becoming $ 5 trillion economy by 2024. He also said the recent dip in growth numbers were “temporary” and could be also be attributed to “sentiments” and ‘global slowdown”.
“There is no situation of panic…Our economy is strong. Sometimes slow down is a cyclic process, fundamentals of Indian economy so strong, not being disturbed,” Javadekar said at a press briefing on the Narendra Modi government completing 100 days in its second term.
The gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, released last week, showed that growth was at 5%, a six-year low. GDP growth has been declining for five consecutive quarters now.
Even in urban centres, consumer sentiment had been worsening for some time. The Reserve Bank of India’s Consumer Confidence Surveys (CCS) show a weakening of perception about the general economic situation as well as spending on non-essential items.
After slow GDP growth in Q1, core sector output growth muted at 2.1% in July
The Union minister said that the “global slowdown” and “sentiments” impact domestic markets but reforms undertaken recently through changes in rules were likely to boost growth in the coming days and help achieve $ 5 trillion economy target.
“In 2014 India was 11th largest economy, in 2019 we have become the 5th largest, we are moving towards becoming 3rd largest economy and towards $5 trillion economy, ” Javadekar said.
Rejecting concerns over drying up of Foreign Direct Investments, Javadekar said India had received the highest FDI, even more than China in 2018.
Javadekar listed several measures including the plan to invest Rs 100 lakh crore into infrastructure and social programmes along with the measures taken to increase “ease of doing business,” like the changes in the GST and Income Tax regulations, to form the stepping stones to the $ 5 trillion economy target.
The measures, he said, “will increase employment and pace of growth” .
The minister described the decision to merge 10 national banks into four, as the “right step in the right direction” which, in his view, “will result in synergies”.
