Indian Economy Remains The Fastest Growing Globally, All Sectors Contributing To The GDP: Nirmala Sitharaman

The minister stated that the manufacturing sector contributed greatly to the Indian economy helped by government measures like the Make in India programme and production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

India continued to maintain being the fastest growing economy in the world and logged significant contribution across all sectors, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday in the Parliament. 

Replying about the state of the economy in the House, Sitharaman highlighted several achievements of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government since 2014. “The second quarter growth was very high, it is the highest in the world. We continuously maintain that momentum of being the fastest-growing economy,” she said, reported PTI.

The Finance Minister stated that India became the fifth largest economy in the world in the last eight years and the growth was visible across all sectors and not limited to just one. She pointed out that during the second quarter of the current fiscal, India's GDP grew by 7.6 per cent, while the third and fourth largest economies in the world contracted during the period. 

She stressed that the manufacturing sector has contributed significantly to the Indian economy on account of the various measures taken by the government like the Make in India programme and production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. The minister called India the second most sought-after manufacturing destination in the world. 

Regarding taxes, she noted, “Direct tax collection grew by 21.82 pc this year till November 9 and monthly GST collections have stabilised at Rs 1.6 lakh crore in a sign of economic growth.” 

The minister further dismissed any concerns regarding unemployment and said that the unemployment rate in the country has reduced to 10 per cent today from 17.8 per cent in 2017-18. “13.5 crore people have come out of 'multi-dimensional' poverty in the last five years,” Sitharaman added.

About the increasing prices in the country, the minister said that the government has taken measures to keep inflation under control. She stated that the retail inflation rate, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached a peak of 7.8 per cent in April 2022, however, now it remained close to the target of 4 per cent given by the Reserve Bank of India.