Montek sees India’s growth at 6% next fiscal
29 Nov 2013
Enthused by the improvements expected in macro economic situation soon, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today that India could achieve 6 per cent economic growth next fiscal and that the second half of this fiscal could be better than the first.
Ahluwalia told business channel CNBC-TV 18 that as per his judgment, the second half of the current (fiscal) year showed over 5 per cent growth, then it would not be unreasonable to expect over 6 per cent in the next financial year, the report said.
His comments came ahead of the release of second quarter (July-September) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data by the government.
India's GDP grew at a decade low of 5 per cent last fiscal.
According to commentators there seemed to be persistent sluggishness in the economy so far, as GDP growth slowed down to 4.4 per cent in April-June quarter from 4.8 per cent in January-March quarter this year.
The economy grew at 5.4 per cent in corresponding quarter (April-June) last fiscal.
According to Ahluwalia, all political uncertainty, that was inevitably associated with the general election, would be over (by next year) giving enough legislative time for many held-up moves.
He said the goods and services tax (GST) would be one of the biggest things that would impact the economy and the investment climate.
He said he was hoping that if early next year, after the general election, the GST was put through and even if it was implemented several months later, the positive impact on expectations would be very high.
He added that going for 6 per cent plus growth in fiscal year 2014-15 was a perfectly reasonable thing to do and then going to 7 per cent plus and then to 8 per cent was not unreasonable.
The projections of the Planning Commision deputy chairman are based on the assumption of a good monsoon season and expected improvement in current account and fiscal deficit.
He also foresees the rupee pricing helping exporters and making domestic producers more competitive.
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