Sambalpur: Principal secretary to prime minister PK Mishar Friday said that the present slowdown of Indian economy is to some extent due to the corrective measures taken by the Modi government.
“Intensive efforts to bring about transparency, prevent leakages and improve governance would have also caused some transitory disruptions. The strong corrective action of the past 5 years, of emphasising on rule of law and formalisation of the economy, are bound to have a short-term drag effect.”
Mishra, while addressing the 30th Convocation of Sambalpur University, here on Friday said, ” In recent months India has witnessed a slow-down in GDP. It is important to understand the various factors feeding into the same, especially cyclical ones. There is a slow-down in global growth of output. Intensive efforts to bring about transparency, prevent leakages and improve governance would have also caused some transitory disruptions. The strong corrective action of the past 5 years, of emphasising on rule of law and formalisation of the economy, are bound to have a short-term drag effect. “
Odisha governor Ganeshi Lal and university vice chancellor Deepak Behera also addressed the Convocation.
Mishar, an alma mater of the university said, “Our economic fundamentals are strong. During the period 2014 to 2019, our annual average GDP growth of 7.5 percent was the highest since Independence. It was also the highest among the G20 countries. Macroeconomic stability during the last five years has been the bedrock on which various reforms have been rolled out. We have kept inflation low, fiscal spending disciplined, and current account deficit under control. If we compare the two periods 2009-14 and 2014-19, inflation has decreased from 10.3 percent to 4.5 percent, fiscal deficit from 5.3 percent to 3.4 percent of GDP, and current account deficit from 3.3 percent to 1.4 percent of GDP. “
Stating that inumerable initiatives are being taken in line with our Prime Minister’s vision of a New India, he said on the economic front in particular, the PM.has set a goal of becoming a five trillion dollar economy by 2024. While this is an ambitious aspiration, we are on track and fully committed to the same, he added.
Asserting that several fundamental, path-breaking reforms have been undertaken, the prime ministers aide said introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in 2016 was a landmark step towards cleaning up and strengthening the financial system of the country. Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in 2017 also stands out as a critical measure for unifying India economically as one common market,.he added. According to him the continuous opening up and liberalisation of foreign direct investment has resulted in unprecedented inflows of FDI into the country.
