SME Times News Bureau | 03 Feb, 2014
India's economy is
likely to grow 4.5-5 percent in the second half of the current fiscal, the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Sunday said.
Ruling out the possibility of any significant improvement in GDP growth in the
second half (October-March), the CII said its CEOs’ poll predicts "the
economy in the second half would grow in the range of 4.5-5 percent".
The economy grew by 4.6 percent in the first six months of the current
financial year.
"However, the survey revealed that the percentage of respondents expecting
GDP to grow higher in a range of 5.0-5.5 percent increased sharply from 13
percent in third quarter to 29 percent in fourth quarter," CII said.
"This clearly mean the economy may have already bottomed out in the
previous quarter and recovery process may already be in place, albeit
fragile," the report added, noting that political uncertainty was the
biggest concern.
The survey, conducted at CII's National Council meeting, says that to hasten
the clearances of the held-up projects, the government should halve the
threshold limit of fast-track projects from the current level of Rs.1,000
crore.
"High food inflation, growth uncertainty and rising borrowing costs have
all impeded consumer demand. With inflation showing some signs of moderation,
it is time that the monetary policy is now directed at stimulating
growth," said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.
According to the report, exports are likely to increase at a moderate pace
during the current quarter.
For the April-December period, exports aggregated $230.3 billion and imports
$340.3 billion, and the trade deficit stood at $110 billion.