Indian Economy's Recovery From Pandemic Complete, Says Chief Economic Advisor

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday said the economy's recovery from the pandemic is complete, supported by non-banking and corporate sectors.

The Economic Survey 2023, which was tabled today, had pegged India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for fiscal 2023-24 at 6 per cent to 6.8 per cent. The Survey was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament today.

During the press conference today, CEA Nageswaran said, "Recovery of economy is complete; non-banking and corporate sectors now have healthy balance sheets, hence, we don't have to speak of pandemic recovery anymore, we have to look ahead to the next phase."

The CEA said, "What more can be done to ensure that the potential GDP growth of India does not stop at 6.5 per cent- 7 per cent, even if global growth and export prospects remain moderate?"

While talking about Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises growth, Mr Nageswaran said credit growth is picking up across sectors, credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has grown at 30 per cent since January 2022, non-performing assets (NPAs) in non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) is lower than what it was 15 months ago.

He said, "Redefinition of MSMEs and Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECGLS) have enabled MSME sector to remain in good health and said evidence is the goods and services tax (GST) paid by MSMEs.

The CEA said the private investment in 10 sectors in the first half of 2022-23 is higher than what it was in the first half of 2021-22 and also noted that industry and services sectors are registering steady growth. "As private investment begins to pick up and as the construction sector comes back to life, employment scenario will become as it did in the first decade," he said.

India is well ahead of its targets for renewable energy mix the Chief Economic Advisor said.

According to the CEA, the urban unemployment ratio has come down to 7 per cent while worker population ratio has picked up to become 45 per cent.

While talking about Foreign Direct Investments, he said liberalised norms for foreign investment had led to a structural shift and added that it has gone up from 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP).