CII: White Paper Confirms India’s Economic Growth

The White Paper on the Indian Economy, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, has reaffirmed the robust growth momentum of the Indian economy, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The industry body said that the document highlighted the NDA government’s efforts in overcoming the challenges inherited from the UPA’s policy paralysis, steering India towards sustainable growth through tough decisions.

White paper : Economic Situation under UPA and NDA

The 59-page document, titled ‘White Paper on the Indian Economy,’ compared the economic situation in the country under the UPA and NDA regimes. It noted the transition from the “fragile five” to the world’s top five economies, citing issues like poor public finances, economic mismanagement, financial indiscipline, and widespread corruption during the Congress-led UPA government.

The paper underscored the magnitude of the responsibility faced by the government in rectifying the economy and reforming governance systems. It also criticized the UPA government for impeding economic activities and leaving behind a severely damaged economy in 2014.

With political and policy stability, the Modi government recognized the necessity of making difficult decisions for the overall economic welfare. It pointed to issues such as poor public finances, economic mismanagement, financial indiscipline, and widespread corruption during the Congress-led UPA government.

The paper said that “the UPA government’s decade of governance (or its absence) was marked by policy misadventures and scams such as non-transparent auction of public resources (coal and telecom spectrum), the spectre of retrospective taxation, unsustainable demand stimulus and ill-targeted subsidies and reckless lending by the banking sector with undertones of favouritism.”

Economic Growth and Indicators under NDA

According to the White Paper, India’s real GDP is projected to grow at 7.3 per cent in 2023-24, as per the first advance estimates of national income. This is also in line with the upward revision in growth projections for 2023-24 by the RBI from 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent. The nominal GDP is estimated at Rs 296.58 lakh crore or USD 3.57 trillion in 2023-24, with a growth rate of 8.9 per cent.

The paper also said that India has attracted a record FDI inflow of USD 596 billion during 2014-23, which is twice the inflow during 2005-14. It attributed this to various reforms undertaken by the government to improve ease of doing business and create a conducive investment climate.

The paper also highlighted various economic indicators that showed improvement under the NDA government, such as inflation, fiscal deficit, current account deficit, foreign exchange reserves, external debt, tax revenue, social sector spending, infrastructure investment, ease of doing business ranking, global competitiveness ranking, etc.

The paper said that “the NDA government has overcome the crisis of those years (UPA era), and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development … It is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years.”

CII’s Vision and Priorities for India@100

The CII said that it has been working closely with the government to achieve its vision of a competitive and sustainable India@100 by 2047. It said that its theme for 2023-24 is ‘Towards a Competitive and Sustainable India@100: Growth, Livelihood, Globalisation, Building Trust’. It added that it has identified key priorities for achieving a nominal GDP of US$ 9 trillion by 2030-31 and US$ 40 trillion by 2047-48.

The industry body also lauded the government’s initiatives in various sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, health care, education, digitalization, innovation, and social welfare. It said that these measures have helped India recover from the pandemic-induced slowdown and boost its resilience and competitiveness.

The CII expressed its confidence that India will continue to be one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world and contribute significantly to global growth and development. It said that it will continue to partner with the government and other stakeholders to achieve India’s aspirations for growth and prosperity.

The CII president Mr Chandrajit Banerjee said that “the White Paper reaffirms the Indian economy’s robust growth momentum and the NDA government’s commendable performance in steering the economy towards a higher and sustainable growth trajectory. The CII is fully committed to working with the government to achieve the vision of India@100 as a competitive, inclusive, and global leader.”

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