Noting that the disturbances and uncertainties caused due to COVID-19 reduced private consumption expenditures, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that the Government has initiated a number of steps to deal with these challenges and the results are visible.
“According to surveys of many agencies, India continues to grow as one of the fastest growing major economies in the world. Our exports continue to set new records and are likely to increase further. A major free trade agreement has been signed with Australia and similar agreements with other partner countries as well,” he added.
He was addressing a workshop on financial market organised by the Lucknow branch of Central India Regional Council (CIRC) of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in Lucknow.
He said. “Just like our Armed Forces personnel who protect the country’s borders with sheer bravery and dedication, our Chartered Accountants are the conscience keepers of the financial system. The CAs must ensure honesty while imparting their duties as they are the keepers of the people’s trust in financial institutions”.
Rajnath Singh was of the view that the world economy is going through a very difficult phase due to the supply chain disruptions and logistical bottlenecks caused by COVID-19 pandemic and now the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“Russia and Ukraine are important commodity producers. Russia is a major producer of food grains and hydro-carbons, while Ukraine is an important producer of wheat, etc. Therefore, the ongoing conflict has impacted the whole world. Since we import hydro-carbon and oil-seeds in large quantities, their prices have affected our country. Food & fuel prices have gone up. Core inflation has also increased due to the global supply chain and other logistical bottlenecks,” he said.
Stating that the gross GST revenue collection was the highest ever at Rs 1.68 lakh crore for April 2022, he defined tax collection as a means of completing works of public interest and said the same revenue is reaching more than 80 crore people in the form of free food grains through ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’ during the COVID-19 situation. He added that new investments are being made at the global and domestic level which are expected to ease the pressure on the supply chain.
