India to clock 7.1% growth this year: UN report

INDIA IS expected to clock 7.1 per cent growth this year before edging up to 7.5 per cent in 2018, according to a UN report, which warned that the country faces heightened risks related to the concentration of bad loans in the public sector banks.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in its annual flagship report ‘The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2017’ launched yesterday that the economic growth for India is projected to be stable at 7.1 per cent in 2017 before edging up to 7.5 per cent in 2018, underpinned by higher private and public consumption and increased infrastructure spending.

Growth in India is forecast at 7.1 per cent this year as “re-monetisation restores consumption, and infrastructure spending increases”, the report said.

Inflation is projected to reach 5.3-5.5 per cent in 2017 and 2018, which is somewhat above the official target of 4.5-5 per cent. The report, however, noted that a key downside risk for India was heightened financial sector risks related to the concentration of bad loans in public sector banks. The gross non-performing assets ratio in public sector banks reached almost 12 per cent in 2016, which points to the need for “bank recapitalisation”, it said.

Noting the impact of demonetisation, the report said the unexpected withdrawal of the two largest denomination currency notes in November 2016 and their subsequent replacement with new currency weighed down economic conditions in late 2016 and early 2017.