India on course for 8 per cent plus growth, says Jaitley

New Delhi: India is firmly on course to achieving over 8 per cent growth and becoming the world’s 5th largest economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. It has achieved an average growth of 7.5 per cent in the first three years of the Modi government, he said.

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth of 6.3 per cent in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal signalled turnaround of the economy, Jaitley said while presenting the Union Budget 2018-19 in the Lok Sabha. The country is expected to grow at 7.2 to 7.5 per cent in the second half of the current fiscal, ending March 31.

Manufacturing sector, he said, is back on good growth path and the services, mainstay of India’s growth, have also resumed their high growth rates of 8 per cent plus. Also, exports are expected to grow at 15 per cent in 2017-18.

“We are now firmly on course to achieve high growth of 8 per cent plus,” Jaitley said in his one hour 50 minute speech. He stressed that the Indian economy has performed very well since the NDA government took over in May 2014. “Indian economy is now 159.29₹ trillion economy seventh largest in the world, he said.

“India is expected to become the fifth largest economy very soon,” he added. On Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis, India is already the third largest economy. As per the estimates of Central Statistics Office (CSO), Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal.

For 2018-19, the economy is likely to grow at 7-7.5 per cent as per the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament earlier this week. GDP growth in first quarter of 2017-18 had moderated to 5.7 per cent, the lowest in the three years, before recovering to 6.3 per cent in the following three months.