‘7-8% GDP GROWTH FAIRLY REASONABLE’
India growing at 7-8 per cent is fairly reasonable in the current global context and Indian standards said Finance Minister in a statement
NEW DELHI: India growing at 78 per cent is “fairly reasonable” in the current global context, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Thursday, maintaining that the decline in fourth quarter GDP print cannot be attributed to demonetisation alone.
Putting up a brave face over the GDP growth slipping to 6.1% in the last quarter of 2016-17, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday sought to debunk demonetisation impacting the economy, asserting that the slowdown was due to both domestic and global factors and scraping of high denomination notes alone can not be blamed.
Insisting that India growing at 7-8 % is "fairly reasonable" in the current global context and Indian standards, he said: "There are several factors which can contribute to GDP in a particular quarter. There was some slowdown visible in the last year, given the global and domestic situation even prior to demonetisation."
Jaitley asserted at a Press conference to explain his ministry's performance on completion of three years by the Modi government that there could be some effect of demonetisation but there were other factors too that should not be ignored. "If you look at the growth of some sectors, the 9-10 % growth that was normal in services, especially in the financial sector, has com ,,,,,,,, ive factors which played," he said.
"I do believe that in the current global situation a 7-8 per cent growth, which is at the moment Indian normal, is fairly reasonable. It is fairly reasonable level of growth by our own standard and very good by global standard. I see no reason that there would be adverse impact of GST on GDP. GST by itself should normally add to the growth," he said. On the issue of total deposits received during demonetisation, Jaitley said the RBI is compiling data and will give the figure once the exercise is complete. "RBI as an important institution can't give approximations. Today every currency note has to be counted, if there is any counterfeit that has to be eliminated and real count has to come. It's an enormous exercise that RBI is doing. As soon as they complete it, they will give the accurate figure," he said. Jaitley said the govt has not yet taken a decision on shifting the financial year from April to January. He also made it clear that the Centre would not provide any additional funds to the states for the farm loan waivers, except what has been recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. "They (states) have to do it from their own resources" if they are so keen on the waiver, he said. He wriggled out of two pointed questions on privatisation of the ailing Air India and merger of all three state-run oil companies. He said the NITI Aayog has already given its recommendations and it is for the civil aviation ministry to explore various options. The same goes for the oil companies merger as it has to be looked at by the petroleum ministry, he said. On quarterly basis, we will regain the status in the current quarter," he said. "The Government has taken lots of reform measures. Our FDI is now around $60 billion. In the next two years -2018-19 and 2019-20 -- we will get to the 8 per cent growth trajectory," he said. India's growth slipped to a threeyear low of 7.1 per cent in 2016-17 on account of poor performance of manufacturing and services sectors, he added.