|
|
|
'India a bright spot in the global economic arena'
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
IANS | 15 Jun, 2022
The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting took place during May 22-26 at
Davos, Switzerland. The WEF meet was attended by about 3,000
participants from across the world including 109 from India. In an
interview on the sidelines of WEF, Borge Brende, President of the World
Economic Forum (WEF) described India as one of the main drivers of the
global economy amid post Covid-19 disruptions, further aggravated by the
Ukraine War.
He described India as a "bright spot" in
the global economic arena as India is poised to achieve a higher growth
rate in FY 2022-23 than the global average.
India is set to grow
by 7-8 per cent this year as compared to an estimated 3 percent growth
rate for the global economy as a whole. According to the WEF President,
the faith of the global leaders remains intact on the long term
prospects of the Indian economy notwithstanding temporary disruptions
due to moderation of demand and disruptions in supply chains in the
global market.
He added, "For India, I am a little more
optimistic and very bullish -- both in the long term and medium term
despite short term challenges faced by India and other countries."
While
appreciating India, the WEF President stated that India has unique
skills and very young population that works in its favour. He also
emphasized that now India also needs to build further skills and has to
start competing more with the US and China on emerging technologies like
artificial intelligence, data and on digital currency.
India
today is a fascinating global investment destination due to its
sustained commitment to economic reforms and improvement in the ease of
doing business. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to India has
shown a continuous increase from $45.15 billion in 2014-15 to $81.97
billion in 2020-21. This is the result of investor friendly policies of
the Government of India which allows 100 per cent FDI under the
automatic route. Government has also undertaken a number of reforms
across various sectors in last one year including insurance, defence,
petroleum and natural gas, and telecom, etc.
Although India would
not be totally decoupled from the adverse effects of Ukraine War on the
global supply chains, its fundamentals are strong and resilient. In its
latest forecast the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) slashed India's growth forecast for 2022 to 4.6 per cent from
earlier estimate of 6.7 per cent. However, India still remains much
above than projected global average growth at 2.6 per cent reduced by
UNCTAD from its earlier forecast of 3.6 per cent. India would still
remain a bright spot while big economies like Russia and Western Europe
and Central, South and South-East Asia could confront significant
economic slowdowns.
The developing countries according to UNCTAD
may face rising commodity and energy prices and even disruptions in
supply chains, reflexes from trade sanctions, food inflation, tightening
policies and financial stability. But it is the resilience and policy
responses that would make a difference to India.
India's
resilience lies in its reliance on a combination of both domestic-demand
led growth on one hand and its increasing integration with the global
economy and thrust on export-led growth strategy on the other.
Indian
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, while speaking at a Development
Committee Plenary of the World Bank in Washington DC stated (April 22)
that "India's economic growth at 8.9 per cent in FY 2022 and IMF
forecast of 8.2 per cent growth for FY 2023 is robust and highest among
all large economies and reflects the country's resilience and strong
recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic."
The Asian Development Bank
in its latest forecast was also upbeat about the Indian economy. It
estimated that India would grow 7.5 per cent in FY 2022 and 8 per cent
in FY 2023 supported by increased public investment in infrastructure
and pick up in private investment and appreciated India's handling of
the Covid-19 pandemic and successful vaccination drive.
It
underscored that "Government of India's policy to improve logistics
infrastructure, incentives to facilitate industrial production and
measures to improve farmers' income will support the country's
accelerated recovery."
Earlier, the Government of India's
Economic Survey had asserted that "the Indian economy is well placed to
face the challenges of FY 2023 particularly due to strong foreign
exchange reserves (about $630 billion), robust growth in government
revenue collection through Goods and Service Tax and supply side reforms
such as factor market and process reforms as well as focus on provision
of social infrastructure and production linked incentives.
There
is a point in being upbeat about India's economy. Deloitte in one of
its research paper,noted that India, along with other emerging
economies, was reeling under the external shocks, however, it maintained
that "India's underlying economic fundamentals are strong and despite
the short-term turbulence, the impact on the long term outlook will be
marginal".
It highlighted that the results of "growth-enhancing
policies and schemes (such as production linked incentives and
government's push towards self-reliance) and increased infrastructure
spending will start kicking in from 2023, leading to a stronger
multiplier effect on jobs and income, higher productivity, and more
efficiency -- all leading to accelerated economic growth. It further
concluded that various government incentives such as lower taxes and
rising service exports on the back of stronger digitization and
technology transformation drive across the world would aid in growth. It
also assessed that several spill-over effects of geopolitical conflict
may enhance India's status as "preferred alternate investment
destination".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|