RBI Chief sees India on path to steady 8 pc GDP growth

MUMBAI — RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das sees India moving ahead towards an 8 per cent GDP growth trajectory on a sustained basis, driven by structural economic reforms such as GST.

“If you look at the average growth India recorded over the three years, the average comes to 8.3 per cent and the current year we have given a projection of 7.2 per cent growth,” Das said at the 188th AGM (Annual General Meeting) of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

India’s growth momentum remains strong and could improve further in the coming months. The country was on a path to achieving 8 per cent growth on a sustained basis, he added.

The RBI Governor also said there was clear evidence of private sector capital expenditure having picked up momentum, which should help growth further.

He also highlighted India’s contribution to global growth amid the worldwide economic slowdown.

“The Indian economy in the last financial year 2023-24 contributed to 18.5 per cent of the global growth, i.e., 18.5 per cent of the global growth was driven by India. It is an achievement as it was much lower 7 or 8 years ago and I think the IMF projects this growth to go up,” he said.

He said that the major drivers of this growth are the implementation of GST, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and Flexible Inflation Targeting.

“GST has the advantage of avoiding the multiplicity of taxes. It is one of India’s biggest structural reforms since 1947,” he remarked.

GST collections have touched 1.7 lakh crore in a month and it is in a range of 1.5 to 1.7 lakh crore every month, he added.

He also highlighted the fact that India is poised to become the third-largest economy in the world from its current position as the fifth-largest.