Indian economy’s recovery from pandemic complete, Chief Economic Advisor says

New Delhi:

Chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said on Tuesday that the economy’s recovery from the pandemic is complete, supported by non-banking and corporate sectors.

The Economic Survey 2023, submitted today, had set India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for fiscal 2023-24 at 6 percent to 6.8 percent. The survey was presented to parliament today by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Speaking at today’s press conference, CEA Nageswaran said, “The recovery of the economy is complete; the non-banking and corporate sectors now have healthy balance sheets, so we no longer need to speak of a pandemic recovery, we need to look ahead to the next phase.”

The CEA said: “What more can be done to ensure India’s potential GDP growth does not stop at 6.5 to 7 percent, even if global growth and export prospects remain subdued?”

While talking about the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises, Mr Nageswaran said credit growth is picking up across all sectors, lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has grown by 30 percent since January 2022, not -performing assets (NPAs) in non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) is lower than 15 months ago.

He said: “Redefinition of MSMEs and Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECGLS) have enabled the MSME sector to stay in good health and the proof of this is the Goods and Services Tax (GST) paid by MSMEs.

The CEA said private investment in 10 sectors is higher in the first half of 2022-2023 than in the first half of 2021-22 and also noted that the manufacturing and services sectors are showing steady growth. “As private investment starts to pick up and the construction sector is reviving, the employment scenario will return to the same as in the first decade,” he said.

India is well ahead of its renewable energy mix targets, according to the Chief Economic Advisor.

According to the CEA, unemployment in the cities has fallen to 7 percent, while the working-class population has risen to 45 percent.

While talking about foreign direct investment, he said that liberalized foreign investment standards have led to a structural shift and added that the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 2.2 percent to 2.6 percent .