India is expected to witness GDP growth of 6 to 6.8 per cent in 2023-24, depending on the trajectory of economic and political developments globally, the economic survey, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday, said.
The survey noted that the Indian economy has staged a full recovery in the current fiscal ahead of many other nations, positioning itself to ascend to the pre-pandemic growth path in the next financial year.
Referring to the outlook for 2023-24, the economic survey said, “India’s recovery from the pandemic was relatively quick, and growth in the upcoming year will be supported by solid domestic demand and a pickup in capital investment.”
The optimistic growth forecasts stem from a number of positives like the rebound of private consumption, boost to production activity, higher capital expenditure, near-universal vaccination, the opening of the service sector, return of migrant workers, strengthening of corporate balance sheets, well-capitalised public sector banks and credit growth to the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.
The Economic Survey 2022-23 projects a baseline GDP growth of 6.5 per cent in real terms in FY24. “The projection is broadly comparable to the estimates provided by multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the ADB and by RBI, domestically,” officials said.
The survey stated that in real terms, the economy is expected to grow at 7 per cent for the year ending March 2023. This follows an 8.7 per cent growth in the previous financial year.
Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran said India’s economic growth in the financial year 2023 has been principally led by private consumption and capital formation and they have helped generate employment as seen in the declining urban unemployment rate and in the faster net registration in Employee Provident Fund.
The survey also pointed out that the credit growth to the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has been remarkably high, over 30.6 per cent on average during Jan-Nov 2022, and their recovery is evident from the amount of Goods and Services Tax (GST) they are paying.
