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Chandigarh, March 1 (PTI): Asserting that the world has confidence in India and its economy, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday said the government aims at making India among the top three global economies by 2025. “We have become the world’s 5th largest economy and in the next five years, the target is to make India among the top three economies of the world,” the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs said.
The minister was addressing a press conference here after meeting stakeholders from various trades and industries during an interactive session organised by the Income Tax department in collaboration with CII.
He also touched upon the government’s recent initiative “Vivaad se Vishwas”, a scheme to settle disputes between the taxmen and taxpayers.
Thakur said various financial institutions, including IMF and RBI, have projected that India will once again attain fast growth.
With the third-quarter GDP falling to 4.7 per cent, the Congress has accused the government of “ruining” the economy by “monumental mismanagement”.
“They (IMF, RBI) have said India is bound to grow in the financial year 2020-21 at the rate of 6-6.5 per cent, that clearly indicates that the world has confidence in India and Indian economy… And Modi government is taking all the steps in that direction,” he said.
“If you look at FDI inflows during the last five years into the country, they far exceed the FDI during the 10 years of UPA rule,” Thakur said, adding the country’s foreign exchange reserves (Forex) have swelled to an all-time high of USD 476 billion.
He said the fiscal deficit, which used to be at 5.2 per cent during the UPA regime, has come down to 3.3 per cent, though “this year it will be 3.8 pc and next year we will bring it down to 3.5 per cent.”
Thakur, who represents Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh as MP, said the Narendra Modi government has shown what fiscal discipline is.
Inflation, which used to be 12 per cent, came down to 4 per cent. All macroeconomic indicators point that India is going ahead in the right direction..,” he said.
Attacking the Congress, he alleged that it was during the UPA rule that the economy had been mismanaged.
“There were scams, the real status of bank NPAs were hidden, inflation was high,” he said.
About the possible impact of an outbreak of coronavirus in China on the world economy, he said India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently held a meeting with industry to seek feedback in this regard.
“We are seeking feedback from the industry and government will take appropriate steps,” he said.