NEW DELHI: The Economic Survey for the year 2014-2015 expects the Indian economy to grow at over 8 percent for the coming fiscal year. “Indian economy is looking-up with brighter prospects amongst the world’s major economies today,” the survey says.
The survey taking into consideration the change of base year by the Central Statistics Office of the National Accounts series from 2004-05 to 2011-12, states that growth at market prices for 2015-16 is expected to be 8.1-to 8.5 per cent.
The survey indicates that a clear political mandate for reform and a benign external environment is expected to propel India on to a double digit trajectory. It states that Indian economy appears to have now gone past the economic slowdown, persistent inflation, elevated fiscal deficit, slackening domestic demand, external account imbalances and oscillating value of the rupee.
The Economic Survey says that expectation for such a growth rate is also due to a number of reforms that have already been undertaken and more that are being planned for. The survey enlist various reform measures like de-regulation of diesel price, taxing energy products, replacing cooking gas subsidy by direct transfer on national scale, passing an Ordinance to reform the coal sector via auctions, increasing the FDI caps in defence, etc.
The expected high growth rate in the coming year in the favourable economic environment has created a historic movement of opportunity to propel India into a double-digit growth trajectory to attain the fundamental objective of “wiping every tear from every eye” of the vulnerable and poor people of the country, the survey says. It also gives an opportunity to the increasingly young, middle-class and aspirational India to realize its full potential. As the new Government is to present its first full year budget, the Economic Survey states that it appears that India has reached a sweet spot and that there is a scope for Big Bang reforms now.
The Economic Survey was tabled in the Parliament on Friday.
Meanwhile, international rating agency Standard & Poor’s has sharply revised India’s growth forecast upwards to 7.9% for 2015-16 and 8.2% in the year after, crediting the move to rising investment and fall in oil prices as it singled out the country in the region while trimming its forecasts for China, Japan and the four Asian Tigers.
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