Author: Biz India

By Rashmi Sanyal – LiveMint New Delhi, July 05, 2019 – The Indian economy grew at 6.8 percent a five-year low, in 2018-19 and fourth quarter growth slumped to 5.8 percent which was a 17-quarter low. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged states to work together to make India a $5-trillion economy by 2024. India will be a $3 trillion economy in 2019-20, said India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting her maiden Union Budget on Friday to the Indian Parliament. “Our economy was $1.85 trillion when we assumed power (in 2014) and it reached $2.7 trillion (in five years since),” said Sitharaman while outlining her government’s commitment to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024. (Editor’s note: $5 trillion is about the current size of the world’s fourth largest economy – Japan. However its GDP per capita is about $39,300, unlikely to be anywhere close to that for India in 2024, which is currently $2,036). However, she added India would need investment in infrastructure, digital economy and job creation in small and medium enterprises to achieve the government’s vision of $5 trillion economy. “I am confident we will achieve our goals. With determined human effort, the task must be completed,” Sitharaman added. In terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), India has become the third largest economy in the world after the US and China, she said. Prime...