‘Indian economy has strong fundamentals, potential to bounce back’: PM Modi

Looking forward to making India a 5 trillion dollar economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said all stakeholders needed to make concerted efforts to achieve the target. The prime minister also reiterated that the fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong and it had the capacity to bounce back from the current slowdown.

“Unwavering in our commitment to become a five trillion dollar economy! Today had in-depth consultations with economists, business leaders and policy experts from various fields on a diverse range of subjects. Such synergy augurs well for national progress,” the prime minister said in a tweet.

The prime minister had a two-hour long discussion with economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agricultural experts on Thursday and called for focussed efforts to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.

The meeting was held at Niti Aayog in Delhi as part of a pre-budget exercise.

Prime Minister Modi has held as many as 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders over various issues affecting the Indian economy and also to thrash out appropriate policy interventions before the upcoming Budget.

Economists like Shankar Acharya, R Nagaraj, Farzana Afridi, venture capitalist Pradip Shah, industrialists Apparao Mallavarapu, Deep Kalra, Patanjali Govind Keswani, Deepak Seth, Srikumar Misra, subject experts Ashish Dhawan and Shiv Sarin were among the 38 delegates, who participated in the discussions.

The idea of an USD 5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country. “The strong absorbent capacity of the economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back,” the PM said adding sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure, and agri-based industries have a great potential for taking forward the economy and for employment generation.

He said open discussions in such forums often lead to a healthy debate and understanding of crucial issues. This would also foster a positive mood and “can do” spirit in the society, he said.

The participants urged the Union Government to focus on credit expansion, exports growth, governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), increasing consumption and job creation. As many as 40 experts and economists attended the meeting.

PM Modi assured the gathering that he would act on suggestions that can be implemented in the short-term and also consider long-term suggestions in due course as these require structural reforms.