Next Budget To Focus On Boosting Growth, Says FM Sitharaman

India, with the world's second-highest cases of COVID-19 after the US despite a severe lockdown of its 1.3 billion people early on in the pandemic, the nation's economy is expected to contract nearly 10% in the 2020/21 financial year.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a press conference, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (PTI Photo)

Indian economy will return to growth in 2021-22, and higher spending in the upcoming budget due in February will lay the foundations for even more robust growth in the next four to five years, Reuters reported quoting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday. India, with the world's second-highest cases of COVID-19 after the US despite a severe lockdown of its 1.3 billion people early on in the pandemic, the nation's economy is expected to contract nearly 10% in the 2020/21 financial year. India's GDP contracted by a lower than expected rate of 7.5% in the second quarter, after a 24% drop in the first quarter and better than RBI's own assessment of an 8.6% contraction. But a recovery is taking hold now, Sitharaman told the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit, 2021. "I would think 2021-22 will be very big, good traction year for achieving a really good rate of growth that itself is going to be a launching pad for 4-5 years of growing at a good speed, provided we do enough on the budget and spend on infrastructure," she said. Unlike other countries such as the US, Japan, and the UK, which poured billions of dollars in relief measures, the Indian government has been more measured in its approach because of limited resources and to curb its ballooning budget deficit. The government has announced a stimulus of Rs 29,87, 641 crores or 15% of the GDP under the three tranches of the Atmanirbhar package, ahead of the 2021-22 upcoming budget. Sitharaman suggested the government could ease up on spending in the months ahead to boost the growth rate. "I have to be conscious that if I don't spend now, then the stimulus is meaningless, if I don't spend now, the revival is going to get deferred, and we can't afford that."