India to See Positive Economic Growth in Second Half of 2020-21, Says Niti Aayog VC

New Delhi: Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday exuded confidence that India's economic growth would be in positive territory in the second half of this fiscal, and will do even better than a large part of the world in 2021-22. Speaking at CERAWeek India Energy Forum, Kumar expressed concerns about the uncertainly over the pandemic, which has kept the economy sluggish.

"We (our economic growth) would be slightly ahead in 2021-22. We would be better than large part of the world. But this depends on how the (relief from) pandemic pans out. This is pure uncertainty. How it will work?" he argued. Accepting that there may not be green shoots in the economy at present, he said there are some stems that are very much visible like rising freight, power demand, farm production and other numbers.

He admitted that the Indian economy would see a contraction in July-September, but opined that the decline must be slow. There will be positive growth in the second half this fiscal, Kumar said.

"I see much stronger recovery in the 2021-22. I am hoping so on solid grounds. We used 6-7 months (during the pandemic) for deep structural reforms like FDI norms, labour laws and farm sector". The structural reforms will help India achieve positive growth in the second of this fiscal and improve further in the next fiscal, he said.

"We should not be de-motivated by our negative GDP growth. There are many measures (packages) in the pipeline," he noted. Kumar also clarified that India's move towards self-reliance does not mean isolation from the global economy. India wants level playing field for its entrepreneurs so that exports can be increased, he said.

About facilitating global companies to reduce their production concentration in one country and invest in India to set up export-oriented manufacturing facilities, he informed that the government has already introduced production linked incentive scheme for such players. He cited the example of Apple, which is in the process to set up its manufacturing base in Pune.

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