India is the biggest development opportunity of the future: Finance Secretary

Highlighting India’s economic growth rate, Union Finance Secretary TV Somanathan on Thursday said the country is the biggest development opportunity for the future. 

“India’s rate of growth by any measurement, regardless of controversies on how it is measured, is much faster than the top four, the four that are ahead of us, United States, China, Japan and Germany, all four have lower growth rates than India, and I think today we can safely say that all four are likely to have lower growth rates than India for the foreseeable future,” Somanathan said at the Indiaspora’s G20 Forum on Thursday.  

The Indian economy grew 7.2 per cent in the fiscal year 2022-23 and is expected to remain the fastest growing economy this fiscal, albeit at a slower pace of 6.1 per cent as per projections by the International Monetary Fund.  

“In terms of the size of the opportunity, the growth, the delta between where we are and where we will go, India is arguably the biggest development opportunity of the future because we are large and we are growing faster than the other larger economies,” the finance secretary further said while terming India as the most beautiful opportunity in the country.  

He further expressed hope that India’s domestic policies and population will be able to harness this opportunity. He also underscored that the diaspora can also be a catalyst for this in areas such as trade, fund flows and knowledge. 

Responding to a question, Somanathan further said that the government has taken a wide range of policies to bridge the divide between the haves and the have-nots including free foodgrains to 800 million people as well as housing. “The government is also focussed on improve the tax take and removing a lot of exemptions,” he said. 

Referring to the recent NITI Aayog report, he further said that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of multi-dimensionally poor in the country. 

According to the National Multidimensional Poverty Index report released by the NITI Aayog in July, multidimensional poverty in the country has decreased to 14.96 per cent in 2019-21 from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16. 

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