India poised for double-digit growth this fiscal: Niti Aayog VC
Reserve Bank has pegged economic growth at 9.5 per cent for the current fiscal
Delhi: India’s economy is projected to register a double-digit growth in the current fiscal according to Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar.
He asserted that the country is well prepared in case there is another COVID-19 wave.
“We are now hopefully getting past the pandemic, and economic activities will be strengthened as we get into the second half of this (fiscal),” Kumar told PTI in an interview.
The Indian economy was adversely impacted by the pandemic and the recovery has been relatively sluggish in the wake of the second COVID-19 wave.
Against this backdrop, the Niti Aayog Vice Chairman exuded confidence that the economic recovery will be ‘very strong’ and those agencies or organisations which have revised their GDP estimates downwards for this fiscal may have to revise them upwards again.
Economic overview
The economy contracted by 7.3 per cent in the financial year ended March 31, 2021.
Among rating agencies, S&P Global Ratings has cut India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 9.5 per cent from 11 per cent earlier, while Fitch Ratings has slashed the projection to 10 per cent from 12.8 per cent estimated earlier. The downward revisions were mainly due to slowing recovery post second COVID-19 wave.
Indicating the possibility of a strong rebound, the Reserve Bank has pegged economic growth at 9.5 per cent for the current fiscal that ends on March 31, 2022.