NITI Aayog Says Economy To Reach Pre-Covid Levels By End Of FY22
The government think tank’s vice chairman predicts better consumer demand ahead.
India’s economic growth is likely to reach pre-Covid levels by the end of 2021-22 fiscal as the contraction in this financial year is expected to be less than 8%, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Sunday.
The Reserve Bank of India has revised its forecast of economic growth for the current fiscal year to -7.5% as against its earlier forecast of -9.5%.
“We should reach pre-Covid-19 levels at the end of fiscal year 2021-22 for sure,” Kumar told PTI when asked about growth projection for the next financial year.
India’s economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5% and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand.
Replying to a question on asset monetisation, he said this is ongoing work and it has received attention at the highest level. “We will continue to pursue this and make sure that the targets of asset monetisation are reached,” Kumar said.
The government is looking to raise Rs 2.10 lakh crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal. This includes Rs 1.20 lakh crore from Central Public Sector Enterprise stake sale and Rs 90,000 crore from sale of government stake in financial institutions.
Talking about banking reforms, he said the sector needs further expansion and an increase in competition because India’s private debt to GDP ratio remains low. Stating that in case of other emerging economy, private debt to GDP ratio is well beyond 100%, Kumar said that “we need to increase private debt and this will happen when our banking sector will expand”.
On the agriculture sector, Kumar said the NITI Aayog now is very strongly pushing the programmes for chemical-free natural farming which has a potential to reduce cost for agriculture production dramatically and also has a positive impact on the environment.
Kumar said the expansion of natural farming all over the country will make Indian agriculture more competitive and it also promises to have a significant positive impact on farmers’ income.