‘Sustained economic growth key to India’s future’

Jaipur, Mar 13 (PTI): NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Saturday said India’s power is truly represented by its sustained economic growth, which is a key to its future and critical for security reasons.
Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of ‘Militaria@Jaipur-2021’, he said as a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic radical reforms were ushered in across a range of sectors and asserted that India has had the sharpest recovery among the major economies.
Economic Growth is expected to rebound about 5.5 per cent after (-)3.5 per cent in 2020 which has been the worst since post-World War, Kant said, adding that pushing India towards a high growth trajectory was a key challenge. The private sector needs to be brought in at the heart of India’s economic growth, he said.
“The economies of east and southeast Asia have transformed themselves within a generation. India’s economy has witnessed a substantial transformation over 30 years since 1991 with an average annual growth of 6.5 per cent,” the NITI Aayog CEO said.
“Sustained economic growth is key to India’s future. Investment and sustained economic growth are critical for security reasons.” Kant further said COVID-19 will likely reverse the trend of poverty alleviation.
“Global debt is at unprecedented levels. What was at about 300 per cent is now at around 370 per cent. Global trade decline is estimated at seven per cent in 2020. China is the only major economy in the world to see positive GDP growth in 2020. Its share in global GDP will rise even further,” he said.
In the last two decades, China has gained tremendous market power in many key sectors like steel, aluminium and pharmaceuticals, Kand said.
“Size and scale need to be brought to the manufacturing sector for India to penetrate global markets. Self-reliant India is not about protectionism. It is about penetrating global markets.