New Delhi: Expressing hope that the country will soon become the world’s third largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the government will continue reforms to make India a developed nation by 2047.
Modi said that the next generation Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform process will be completed before this Diwali. He said that this will simplify the GST law and reduce prices.
The Prime Minister urged the private sector to increase investment in research and development in various sectors including clean energy, quantum technology, battery storage, advanced materials and biotechnology.
At the ‘Economic Times World Leaders Forum’, the Prime Minister said that India is the fastest growing major economy in the world today. He said, “We are going to be the third largest economy in the world soon. Experts say that India’s contribution to world growth is going to be around 20 percent very soon.” Modi said the growth seen in the Indian economy is due to macroeconomic stability in the last 10 years. The Prime Minister said that despite the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic, India’s fiscal deficit has come down to 4.4 per cent. He said Indian companies are raising record funds from the capital markets.
He said that banks are now quite strong, inflation is very low, interest rates are low and the current account deficit is under control. He said that the foreign exchange reserves are strong.
The Prime Minister said that every month lakhs of domestic investors are investing thousands of crores of rupees in the capital market through SIP. He said that when the economic fundamentals are strong, the positive effect is visible all around. Modi said that the latest data of June from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) shows that 22 lakh formal jobs have been added, which is the highest number ever in a single month.
He said that retail inflation is at its lowest level since 2017. The Prime Minister said, “For us, reform is neither a compulsion nor driven by crisis, but it is a matter of commitment and conviction.” Modi said that the government does a holistic assessment of each sector before initiating a series of reforms. The Prime Minister said that during the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament, the government continued with reforms despite disruptions caused by opposition parties.
