Economy on a Recovery Path with 7.4% Growth in 3 Quarters

The Indian economy is on a recovery path with 7.4 percent growth in the first three quarters of the last fiscal with the new NDA government committed to maintaining overall macro-economic conditions, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Washington.

“The Indian economy is now clearly on a recovery path. We are committed to maintain overall macroeconomic conditions on a sustained basis so that the Indian economy is able to achieve and sustain growth of 8 percent and above,” Jaitley said in his address on Saturday to the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

He said India’s growth recovered to 7.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2014-15 as compared with 7.0 percent during the same period of 2013-14. Advance estimates have placed the country’s gross domestic product growth for the full fiscal 2014-15 at 7.4 percent.

Inflation in the country has also moderated significantly, he added. Jaitley said the consumer price indexed (CPI), or retail, inflation declined to 5.2 percent in March 2015 from 11.2 percent in November 2013.

In terms of the flexible inflation targeting framework adopted recently, the Reserve Bank of India will seek to bring the inflation rate to 4 percent by the end of a two- year period starting fiscal 2016-17, Jaitley told the IMF. (IANS)