6.5-7% growth projected by Economic Survey is doable depending on monsoon: CEA Nageswaran

23 Jul 2024 Evaluate

Expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said a 7 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, the upper end of the projection made in the Economic Survey, is doable depending on monsoon and global financial risks. The Economic Survey projected India’s GDP to grow between 6.5 per cent and 7 per cent in 2024-25, down from a high of 8.2 per cent in the preceding financial year. He said ‘We are not pessimistic. We actually are optimistic about growth. We are also mindful of the challenges with regard to progress of monsoon’.

He said ‘We want to be prudent in projecting growth rate, that is why we have projected the country’s economic growth at 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent in FY24’. He also said ‘While 7 per cent is eminently doable, there are some risk factors given the way the monsoon has shaped up and financial market risks are rising in the developed world with the spillover effects on India, and also the global geopolitics environment’. According to him, there is momentum in the economy and private capital expenditure has picked up. He added India’s external debt ratio is much lower compared to other emerging economies.

Nageswaran also said inflationary pressure is under control, and core inflation is running well below 4 per cent. He also noted that India needs to create 80 lakh jobs per annum. He said the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme is beginning to deliver very handsomely in key areas. PLIs have been able to attract investment of Rs 1.28 lakh crore and generated 80 lakh jobs. Despite securing a good rating on its green bond framework, he said, Indian sovereign green bonds have hardly received any ‘greenium’ from private investors. He said ‘It is more a ‘wall of capital’ than a ‘flood of capital’ that is waiting to fund energy transition in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). It just isn’t mobile. All of these together have severely hampered the flow of finance for green transition projects.’


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