India still projected as fastest growing economy: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said in the Lok Sabha that growth has decelerated, but there is no slump and India is still projected to be the fastest-growing economy in FY20 among the G-20 nations.

She said the government has been taking several measures to address moderate levels of fixed investment rate in the economy, plateauing of private consumption rate and modest export performance, with a view to increasing the GDP growth.

In a written reply, Sitharaman said India’s economic growth decelerated but its economy is still the fastest-growing among G-20 nations and that the goal of $5 trillion economies will be achieved by 2025.

In a written reply to a question from N.K. Premachandran, MP from Kerala, that despite some recent deceleration in growth, India’s economy was still projected by the World Economic Outlook to grow at the fastest rate among G-20 countries in 2019-20.

“During the last five years, the government has implemented major reforms to build the investment climate in the country for becoming a $5 trillion-dollar economy,” the minister said.

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) of October 2019 projects a significant slowdown in world output and trade in 2019. Yet India, despite some recent deceleration of GDP growth, is still projected by WEO to grow at the fastest rate in 2019-20 among G-20 countries, she said.

On the question of whether the government has analyzed the impact of the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the economic slowdown, Sitharaman said the GST reform stands out as the most important measure for improving ease of doing business in the country. (IANS)

Also Read: Services sector driving Indian economy: President

Also Watch: Govt all set to push for the contentious Citizenship Bill in the winter session of Parliament