In a recent video interview on Thursday, Sanjeev Sanyal, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member emphasized the need for continued efforts to uphold India's economic growth.
Sanyal highlighted the current positive trajectory of India's economic growth while underlining the importance of sustaining it amidst lingering concerns about the global economic environment.
Reflecting on recent economic data, Sanyal noted India's better-than-expected growth of 8.4% in the final quarter of 2023, marking the fastest pace in one-and-half years. "This growth surpassed previous rates and contributed to an estimated fiscal growth of 7.6% for the year ending March 2024", he pointed.
"Our current economic growth performance, I would argue, (is) rather good. And the game now from here on is to be able to sustain it," he said
Despite this promising domestic growth momentum, Sanyal acknowledged uncertainties in the external environment.
Sanyal explained that exports continue to be quite weak, and there is not yet any momentum in global exports. Moreover, "very recently, there was spike in oil prices going up to USD 91 per barrel because of tensions in the Middle East, destruction of Russian oil facilities by Ukrainian attacks and a variety of other reasons," Sanyal said.
Sanyal identified storage infrastructure as a key solution, emphasizing the role of private markets and state mechanisms in stabilizing prices. He also discussed the slowdown in foreign direct investment (FDI), attributing it to global trends while expressing confidence in India's underlying FDI momentum.
"After all, Singapore and Dubai do not grow tomatoes and onions. Their onion and tomato prices don't go spiking in the way we have this and every year. Some vegetable or the other, onion, tomato, potato, whatever, something will go spiking off the charts," he said.
"Of course, the import and export of food material is also an issue. But yeah, but this (high) vegetable price issue... ultimately the solution to this issue is private markets and storage," he said.
Apart from this, he talked about India's strategy amid global shifts, He emphasized the importance of creating conducive conditions for industrial growth, citing examples such as Apple's manufacturing expansion in India.
In terms of employment, He referenced a recent report highlighting the significance of addressing youth unemployment in India, He pointed that, "According to a recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, more than 80 per cent cent of India's unemployed workforce comprises its youth"
Sanyal said he is not a believer that in the medium-to-long-run, there is any such thing as jobless growth. "All growth ultimately generates jobs. You can have skill mismatches. You can have all kinds of other problems, but you can not generate jobless growth over long periods of time," he asserted.
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