India is moving towards 8 per cent GDP growth in a sustained manner, says RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

He was speaking at the 188th AGM of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Giving figures, Das said that the average growth India recorded over the last three years is 8.3%, with the current year projected at 7.2% growth.

“The Indian economy in the last FY contributed to 18.5 percent of global growth – and this is no mean achievement,” he added.

Listing the main causes of this growth in the last three years, Das pointed out that structural reforms such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have contributed vastly to this growth.

“The GST has avoided tax on tax and has the advantage of avoiding multiplicity of taxes,” he said.

He also pointed out that GST has stabilised much faster than other economies – this is reflected in the fact that the tax collections in GST have touched 1.7 lakh crores per month.

Further, the introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and Flexible Inflation Targeting Framework by way of amendment to the RBI Act in 2016 helped this growth.

Das further said that India’s growth story has been and will be multi-sectoral.

“A country with a 140-crore population, which is the fifth largest economy, aspiring to become the third largest and an advanced economy by 2047, cannot depend on a single sector.”

He mentioned how growth is well sustained with the outlook for the current year at 7.2 %, while with inflation at 4.7 per cent with downside risks, the central bank aims to bring it down to 4%.

However, he cautioned that with inflation within striking distance of 5%, in the event of any weather vagary, there is a need to be vigilant.

He also spoke about the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and said that it is the future of money. He added that the digital currency will not be in competition with UPI and, instead, both will co-exist and be interoperable.

Concluding his address, Das said, “As a central bank, we have issued our agenda for RBI@100. We are at the forefront of adoption of technology and of innovation and are fully committed to all its mandates and responsibilities assigned to it and in supporting India’s growth story.”