PM Manmohan Singh pegged the growth of the Indian economy at 5% for the current fiscal. The government’s decisions on infrastructure and fiscal reforms have started making impact and India is “re-emerging” as an attractive investment destination, he said.
India's economic growth will pick up in the second half of the year but not enough to mark a revival, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, adding that the government could have implemented wider reforms if it had greater political support, especially in the financial and insurance sectors.
Singh said Wednesday that “we will probably end” the fiscal year at the same level as one before, when India recorded decade-low growth of 5%.
The Prime Minister's prediction backs up what finance minister P Chidambaram and the Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan have been saying about growth accelerating in the second half owing to improved rural incomes after a good monsoon and higher exports, apart from other reasons.
To avoid slipping further, the economy needs to expand by 5.4% in the second half, given that growth in the April-September period has been put at 4.6%.
Singh had sounded more optimistic last week. “I do believe we are set for better times. India’s own growth momentum will revive,” he had said, stressing that the United Progressive Alliance had delivered the country's highest growth since independence in its first nine years in power. On Wednesday, Singh corrected the average growth figure for 2004-2013 to 7.9% from the 7.7% mentioned last week. Singh has said that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister as the UPA's second term comes to an end and elections are held in a few months.
His government has lost popularity because of several corruption scandals, the economic slump, high inflation and an inability to get policy changes approved. The Congress-led UPA, which suffered heavy defeats in recent elections, needs some good news on the economic front as it prepares for polls.
However, some analysts expect the economy to slow down further this year. Nomura has estimated GDP growth at 4.7% in 2013-14.
India's economic growth will pick up in the second half of the year but not enough to mark a revival, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, adding that the government could have implemented wider reforms if it had greater political support, especially in the financial and insurance sectors.
Singh said Wednesday that “we will probably end” the fiscal year at the same level as one before, when India recorded decade-low growth of 5%.
The Prime Minister's prediction backs up what finance minister P Chidambaram and the Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan have been saying about growth accelerating in the second half owing to improved rural incomes after a good monsoon and higher exports, apart from other reasons.
To avoid slipping further, the economy needs to expand by 5.4% in the second half, given that growth in the April-September period has been put at 4.6%.
Singh had sounded more optimistic last week. “I do believe we are set for better times. India’s own growth momentum will revive,” he had said, stressing that the United Progressive Alliance had delivered the country's highest growth since independence in its first nine years in power. On Wednesday, Singh corrected the average growth figure for 2004-2013 to 7.9% from the 7.7% mentioned last week. Singh has said that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister as the UPA's second term comes to an end and elections are held in a few months.
His government has lost popularity because of several corruption scandals, the economic slump, high inflation and an inability to get policy changes approved. The Congress-led UPA, which suffered heavy defeats in recent elections, needs some good news on the economic front as it prepares for polls.
However, some analysts expect the economy to slow down further this year. Nomura has estimated GDP growth at 4.7% in 2013-14.
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