Real GDP growth may be better than Eco Survey’s projection: Sanjeev Sanyal

Speaking to ETV Bharat, the finance ministry’s principal economic advisor Sanjeev Sanyal said that India’s economic growth is witnessing a V shape recovery and the GDP growth in the next fiscal may even surpass the projections made in the economic survey as the government has taken a very conservative figure.

New Delhi: India’s economic growth is witnessing a V shape recovery and the GDP growth in the next fiscal may even surpass the projections made in the economic survey as the government has taken a very conservative figure, said the finance ministry’s principal economic advisor Sanjeev Sanyal in an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat.

The Economic Survey for FY 2020-21, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has projected 11% GDP growth in the next fiscal beginning from April 1, which will be the highest since 1991 when the country started to liberalise its economy.

In the April-June quarter in the current fiscal, India’s economic growth declined by over 15% year on year as per the first advances estimates released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) early this month. The NSO also projected that GDP for the full fiscal ending on March 31 will decline by 7.7%

Justifying the 11% GDP growth for the next fiscal, Sanjeev Sanyal said it will be mainly due to the lower base effect.

“In the first half of the next fiscal, all the sectors will be up due to lower base,” said Sanjeev Sanyal.

He, however, asserted that all the sectors of the economy, particularly services sector, which has been hit hard during the lockdown, will show improvement as hospitality, travel and tourism sectors will witness better performance following the rollout of Covid vaccine.

“Both services and industry, including the manufacturing sector, will show improvement,” he said.

Sanjeev Sanyal says the government has taken a very conservative figure while projecting the next year’s GDP growth while other international agencies such as the International Monetary Fund are more optimistic.

“It is a very conservative figure that the government has taken. Even the IMF expects 11.5% growth,” Sanyal told ETV Bharat.