New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the economic reforms undertaken by the Centre will make India one of world’s top 5 economies in next few years.
While inaugurating the National Traders’ Conclave organised by the Confederation of All-India Traders in the national capital, Singh said according to a survey by a consultancy film, India was ranked ninth among the world’s top 10 economies in the year 2014, and today we have left behind France to reach the sixth position.
“I am confident, as economists predict, in the next two-three years India’s economy will be among the top five. With this pace of GDP growth, by 2030 we will break into the world’s top three economies,” Singh said.
“India is the most attractive destination for foreign investors and received more than 150 billion dollars FDI in the last four years. In ‘Ease of Doing Business’, the country’s ranking has improved from 142 to 100. Besides that, the manufacturing sector has got a fillip with the ‘Make in India’ programme. In 2014, while there were only two mobile phone factories in India, today we have 120 handset manufacturing units,” he added.
Singh further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated key structural and procedural reforms in the economy.
“You don’t need an economist to steer the country; you only need a realist visionary to realise the potential of our economy,” he said.
Citing examples of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Goods and Services Tax (GST), amendment to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and demonetization, Singh said India’s GDP growth rate in the last four years has outpaced the inflation rate every year since 2014.
“Government has recently substantially hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) for food grains. This will benefit the farmers and boost rural spending, thereby giving a fillip to retail trading. Under the DBT, the role of middlemen has been eliminated; subsidies worth Rs 3,65,000 crore under 431 schemes have been directly passed on to beneficiaries. Traders overcame hiccups during demonetisation to support the momentous decision in the long term benefit of the country,” he said.
“Out of 6.5 crore traders and shopkeepers, around 1.25 crore have registered under the GST. As per the economic survey, between November 2016 and 2017, more than 1.15 crore returns have been filed. GST is a major taxation reform in the country where only 6.10 crore people are under the taxation regime out of a population of more than 130 crores,” Singh added.
Singh further sought the cooperation of the trading community to realise the Prime Minister’s dream of doubling India’s economy by 2022.
He said: “There are 6.5 crore retail traders in the country; government wants to strengthen the trading system.” (ANI)