More structural reforms on cards: Niti Aayog boss
Investors can look forward to many more structural reforms, including accelerated privatisation, by the government in the coming days to put the economy into a high growth trajectory, according to Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
He said agriculture, mining and coal are among the sectors where the government is pushing for mega reforms and many of these reforms will be unfolding in the coming months.
“In the last five years, the economy has grown at about 7.5 per cent. The country’s growth rate of 8.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2017-18 has fallen to 5 per cent in AprilJune, 2019-20," Kant said at the World Economic Forum summit here.
“The RBI and the government have taken a series of measures to take India back to a high trajectory of growth. The RBI has dropped repo rate by about 110 basis points, but there are limitations to monetary policy and therefore the government stepped in and took a series of measures,” Kant said.
The government announced a series of economic boosters including capitalisation of public sector banks, merging some of them, package for exports, and bringing down corporate tax rate.
“I think many more structural reforms are in the offing. The government
has pushed for public sector disinvestment. I can tell you we have pushed for asset monetisation in a very big way. Our belief is that instead of greenfield projects, investors must come into brownfield projects... and government will put many of these assets out in the marketplace for many of you people to invest,” he added.
“The key really is to work not merely on monetary policy but also bring in rapid structural reforms in economy so that we create the pace for long-term growth... And
take India to a rate of growth of 9-10 per cent per annum for a three-decade period, which will enable us to lift a vast segment of our people above the poverty line,” he said.
“We are pushing for public sector disinvestment in a very radical way. NITI Aayog has recommended over 55 public sector companies for disinvestment and I can tell you that the government itself has approved over 26 of them for disinvestment...You will have soon a very very vast number of public sector companies getting privatised,” Kant said.