Govt decisions during pandemic to have long-lasting positive impact: Amit Shah at FICCI meet

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that several policy decisions made by the government during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic will leave a long-lasting positive impact on India’s growth and development. Addressing the annual general meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Shah said that India is likely to become the “fastest-growing economy in the world.”

"I won't be surprised if our economic growth accelerates to double-digit," he said, adding the inflation is within the “targeted range” of 4-6% as set by the government.

In November, India’s retail inflation accelerated but remained within the medium-term target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as consumers prices rose 4.91% from November 2020. The central bank expects retail inflation at 5.1% for the third quarter and at 5.7% for the final quarter in the current financial year.

Talking about the issue of unemployment, the minister said that till the time "we encourage and strengthen” the MSME sector, “we cannot address the issue of unemployment in the county."

During the address, Shah insisted that some decisions of the central government might have been wrong but no question can be raised on its intent. He said no charges of corruption have been levelled against the government in the past seven years and even critics would agree that India has witnessed a lot of changes since the BJP came to power in 2014.

"Ho sakta hai faisla galat ho, lekin niyat galat nahi thi (there could have been some wrong decisions but our intent was never wrong)," the minister said.

"Even critics would agree that the country has seen a lot of changes in the last seven years. No allegation of corruption has surfaced against our government," he added.

(With agency inputs)