GDP to grow in excess of 7.5 per cent this fiscal: Arun Jaitley
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said economic growth could top 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal and macro economic indicators are positive with declining inflation and twin deficits under control.
Addressing a mid-career training programme of senior IAS officers, Jaitley said subsidy rationalisation, implementation of DBT, bank recapitalisation, investment in infrastructure and irrigation sector are priority areas of the government.
"India's macro indicators are positive, inflation has come down since the new government has taken charge, CAD is under control and the government is following the fiscal consolidation road map and will stick to fiscal deficit target," Jaitley said.
He said that even when globally the economic situation is not that good, India's industrial and manufacturing output are showing improvement.
"GDP growth rate will be more than 7.5 per cent this fiscal. Indirect tax revenues are showing a positive trend and all these positive indicators point to India's economic revival," he added. He said the agriculture sector has to be more productive to raise its contribution in overall GDP.
Although 55 per cent of India's population is engaged in the farm sector, it contributes only 15 per cent to GDP. "There is scope of increasing GDP by 2 per cent by taking cumulative measures including rationalisation of taxes etc," he said.