The government of India sees a good year ahead with the economic slowdown expected to end this fiscal year, according new report released Wednesday.
India’s economic growth is estimated to increase 6.1% to 6.7% in the fiscal year to March 2014, surpassing the low 5% forecast for the current year, the Economic Survey of India revealed.
“The downturn is more or less over and the economy is looking up,” said the finance ministry’s summary of the report, which was released the day before the national budget, reports the Financial Times.
Raghuram Rajan, chief economic adviser, warned against complacency, saying that the government needed to pursue reforms vigorously to create badly-needed jobs in the manufacturing and services industries.
“India is in a difficult situation,” Rajan said. “But is by no means in an impossible situation. India’s growth out of poverty into middle income would be the great story of our time. A return to high growth looks improbable today, but paraphrasing Nelson Mandela, it will always look improbable until it’s done.”
The survey also pressed for reforms to the stagnant labour market that would “create productive jobs outside of agriculture” and calls for spending on the country’s crumbling infrastructure.
The outlook is in line with international forecasts. FocusEconomics said India’s gross domestic product will rise 6.2% in fiscal 2013-14.
