IANS | 29 Jan, 2024
The Finance Ministry said on Monday that it now appears very likely
that the Indian economy will achieve a growth rate at or above 7 per
cent for FY24, while some predict it will achieve another year of 7 per
cent real growth in FY25 as well.
If the prognosis for FY25 turns
out to be right, it will mark the fourth year post-pandemic that the
Indian economy will have grown at or over 7 per cent. That would be an
impressive achievement, testifying to the resilience and potential of
the Indian economy, the Finance Ministry said.
"Some economists
argue, with considerable merit, that not all growth is equal. They are
right. It is one thing for India to grow at 8-9 per cent when the world
economy is growing at 4 per cent, but it is another thing to grow at or
above 7 per cent when the world economy is struggling to grow at 2 per
cent.
"One unit of growth in the latter circumstance is
qualitatively superior to the former," the Finance Ministry said in a
review of the Indian economy just days before the Interim Budget (Feb
1).
The marginal utility of growth in the second scenario is much
higher. The global economy is struggling to maintain its recovery
post-Covid because successive shocks have buffeted it.
Some of
them, such as supply chain disruptions, have returned in 2024. If they
persist, they will impact trade flows, transportation costs, economic
output and inflation worldwide.
India will not be exempt from it,
but having faced and seen off Covid and the energy and commodity price
shocks of 2022, India is quietly confident of weathering the emerging
disturbances, the review said.
This is not the Economic Survey
prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs. That will come before
the full Budget after the general elections.