Arun Jaitley rebuts Manmohan Singh's comments, says economy not fragile

New Delhi: Dismissing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comments on the state of Indian economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said an economy growing at fastest pace in the world cannot be 'fragile'. "In a global slowdown situation, to have the fastest growth rate in the world certainly does not make Indian economy fragile," he told reporters here. Jaitley made these comments when asked about the Singh's statement that recovery in the Indian economy was very fragile.

The Finance Minister said the fourth quarter (January- March) GDP growth of 7.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent for the entire financial year 2014-15 indicate that the economy is in "recovery mode". The silver lining in the GDP number is the manufacturing sector which registered 8.4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter and 7.1 per cent for entire 2014-15. "Manufacturing and services indicate that we have a potential to grow at 8-9 per cent and beyond," Jaitley said.

The fourth quarter GDP data "gives us a broad idea of how the Indian economy is moving. It is absolutely clear that the economy is in a recovery mode", he added. While the fourth quarter GDP growth rate at 7.5 per cent was better than China's 7.4 per cent, making India the fastest growing economy in the world, for the full fiscal it was a tad lower than the Chinese growth rate. Jaitley further said that with improvement in agriculture and exports, India could achieve 9 per cent growth rate.