New Delhi :Enthused by second quarter GDP number, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the growth this year would be better than 7.3 per cent achieved last fiscal.
As per the Finance Ministry projection, GDP growth should be in the vicinity of 7.5 per cent in 2015-16.
“I think the second quarter figures give us a sense of satisfaction… We expect growth this year to be better than last year and even better the next year,” Jaitley said.
“Overall, the Ministry is expecting the economy to grow in the vicinity of 7.5 per cent in 2015-16,” a late evening official statement said.
It further said the growth is being mainly driven by pick-up in the manufacturing sector, which has grown by 9.3 per cent in the second quarter.
Similarly, the fixed investment is showing a sign of revival as it has grown by 6.8 per cent in the July-September period.
Jaitley said manufacturing sector recorded a “significant” growth of 9.3 per cent in the September quarter despite an adverse global situation and hoped that private sector investments would pick up faster in coming quarters.
He was responding to the GDP growth rate which came in at 7.4 per cent for July-September, higher than 7 per cent in the April-June quarter.
“And when manufacturing starts turning despite globally adverse circumstances, I think that’s a very significant figure from our point of view,” he said.
The data released by CSO today showed that manufacturing sector grew 9.3 per cent in July-September as against 7.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
Further, the service sector growth is still robust at 8.8 per cent in Q2 of 2015-16, with the trade and transport services leading the way.
He said Indian economy has been able to clock reasonable levels of growth despite the “great adversity” of two successive years of below-par monsoon.
The country has been facing a large number of domestic and global challenges, and slowly private investments have started to pick up, he added.
PTI