Modi: India will return to economic growth
A DAY after Moody’s downgraded India’s credit rating to a notch above junk status on growth concerns, prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (2) asserted that the country will definitely get back its economic growth and said reforms undertaken during the lockdown will help the economy in the long-run.
Country’s Covid-19 recovery rate has been improving and stands at 48.19 per cent now, whereas the rate of fatality has seen a steady decline to reach 2.83 per cent, the India’s health ministry said on Monday (1) as the death toll rose to 5,394 and the number of infections climbed to 1,90,535.
Pledging to undertake more structural reforms that will change the course of the country, he explained the concept of Atma-nirbhar Bharat or Self-reliant India - one where products are Made in India for the world and a nation that is not dependent on others in strategic sectors.
Speaking at CII’s Annual Session, he called on India Inc to rise to the occasion and partner rural India in these testing times.
‘On the one hand we have taken tough steps to fight the virus and on the other, we have taken care of the economy,’ he said.
‘We have to save the lives of citizens while also stabilise the economy and speed up growth,’ he added.
Indian industry, he said, has started talking about ‘getting growth back’.
‘I will go beyond getting growth back to say Yes! We will definitely get our growth back,’ he said expressing confidence in Indian farmers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs for helping achieve that.
Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service on Monday downgraded India to the lowest investment grade level and kept it on a negative watch. This because the country faces a prolonged period of slower growth relative to its potential and rising debt. Reforms, he said, means the courage to take decisions, and take them to their logical conclusion. The government is trying to create a facilitative ecosystem for private enterprises, he said.
During the lockdown, the government opened up non-strategic sectors to the private sector. It freed up the coal sector by allowing commercial mining and allowed the private sector to invest in sectors like space and atomic energy. Also, long-pending labour reforms are being undertaken.
To get back on the growth path, the country needs to focus on intent, inclusion, and infrastructure. ‘Getting growth back is not that difficult and the path to that is Atma-nirbhar bharat,’ he said.
Self-reliant India means the country will embrace the world by becoming stronger. ‘Atma-nirbhar bharat will be fully integrated with the world economy and also be supportive.’
‘We have to invest in the robust local supply chain that can strengthen India’s participation in global supply chain,’ he said. ‘There is a need to create products that are Made in India and Made for the World.’
Self-reliant India is about cutting down imports, improving productivity setting targets, and not relying on others in strategic sectors, he said.
Meanwhile, India has registered a record single-day spike of 8,392 cases and 230 deaths till Monday 8 AM and is now the seventh worst-hit nation by the Covid-19 pandemic, after US, Brazil, Russia, UK, Spain and Italy.
The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 93,322 while 91,818 people have recovered so far, of whom 4,835 cured in the last 24 hours.
‘The recovery rate in the country is progressively increasing and has reached 48.19 per cent amongst Covid-19 patient,’ the health ministry said.
The recovery rate has improved from 11.42 per cent on April 15 to 26.59 per cent on May 3 and to 38.29 per cent on May 18, the ministry said.
Presently there are 93,322 active cases in the country which are under active medical supervision.
The case fatality rate is 2.83 per cent as against 6.19 per cent globally, the ministry said. From 3.30 per cent on April 15, India’s Covid-19 fatality rate declined to 3.25 per cent on May 3 and came down further to 3.15 per cent on May 18.
‘A steady decline can be seen in the case fatality rate in the country. The relatively low death rate is attributed to the continued focus on surveillance, timely case identification and clinical management of the cases,’ the ministry said.
‘Two specific trends are thus noticed, while the recovery rate is increasing on one hand, case fatality is going down on the other,’ it said.
The ministry further said that the testing capacity has increased in the country through 472 government and 204 private laboratories (total 676 laboratories). Cumulatively, 38,37,207 samples have been tested so far for Covid-19, whereas, 1,00,180 samples were tested yesterday. Presenting the case fatality rate for countries having the highest number of deaths, vide WHO situation report-132 dated May 31, the ministry said the US with 1,01,567 deaths has a case fatality rate of 5.92 per cent while UK with 38,376 deaths has a case fatality rate of 14.07 per cent. Italy, Spain, France and Brazil with 33,340, 29,043, 28,717 and 27,878 deaths have a case fatality rate (CFR) of 14.33 per cent, 12.12 per cent, 19.35 per cent and 5.99 per cent respectively.