India's growth in last 5 yrs has been transformational: Shringla

Washington, Mar 20: The rapid economic growth and developmental strides of India in the last five years have been transformational and the country is all set to emerge as a USD 5 trillion economy in the next five years, India's envoy to the US has said.

India is one of the strongest major emerging economies, India's Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the George Washington University's Institute for International Economic Policy here on Tuesday.

In terms of fundamentals of the country's economy, its inflation has come down from over 10 per cent five years ago to about 4.6 per cent, the fiscal deficit has come down from almost six per cent to 3 per cent which are very important indicators, he said.

"We have made huge strides in the last five years. I think it has been transformational the way we have grown," Shringla said.

"Inflation is also seen as an unpaid tax on the middle class and the poor. So bringing down inflation, bringing down fiscal deficit is good governance and good management of the economy," he said, adding that India has been successful in attracting USD 259 billion in Foreign Direct Investment, 90 per cent of which has come through the automatic route.

The event was held to launch FICCI's report 'Envisioning India: 2030' by Shringla in the presence of a select audience. There is a vision that in the next five years, India would become a USD 5 trillion economy, he said.

"We have already grown in the last five years from being the 11th largest economy in the world to the sixth. And this year we might as well become the fifth largest economy. "We see ourselves growing to a USD 5 trillion economy in the next five years to 2024 and eight years after that, we see ourselves as USD 10 trillion economy," Shringla said.

At the same time, the Indian envoy said that India needs a high level of growth to achieve this goal. India, Shringla said, needs inclusive and sustainable growth. And for this, the focus needs to be on physical and social infrastructure.

"The last five years have been transformational in the sense that a very, very large number of initiatives have been taken by the government to address and correct the imbalances in both the economic growth and development," Shringla said while participating in a fireside chat with Ajay Chhibber, chief economic advisor, FICCI.

The fireside chat was followed by a panel discussion of industry experts to discuss the competitive advantage of the India-US relationship in the sectors of higher education, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure finance requirements.

PTI