Amid threats that India's credit rating could be downgraded and a slowdown in the economy, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the government is taking several steps to boost investor confidence and more such measures may follow.
According to Ahluwalia, if everything goes well on the economic growth front for the next three months, then one can say that the economy will be back on higher growth trajectory in the long run.
The document which was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister P Chidambaram has projected the growth rate for next fiscal at 6.1-6.7 per cent.
The Planning Commission on Thursday described the International Monetary Fund's growth projection of 8.8 per cent for India as optimistic and said the panel would stick to its outlook.
In order to help the industry combat the impact of global financial crisis, the government had provided three stimulus packages to the industry resulting in a revenue sacrifice of Rs 1.86 lakh crore (Rs 1.86 trillion).
Following widespread drought and floods in various parts of the country, food inflation climbed to more than a 10-year high of 19.95 per cent in December, driven mainly by higher prices of potato, other vegetables and pulses.
Terming the 5.5 per cent GDP growth as "good news", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today expressed confidence that economy would rebound in subsequent quarters.
Although India's private health insurance industry's business volumes have grown by over 35 per cent a year in the last few years, a staggering 85 per cent of the population remains uninsured, according to industry estimates.
Planning Commission has submitted a proposal to the finance ministry for raising Rs 70,000 crore
The government last month revised the growth forecast for the current fiscal downward to 7.5 per cent on domestic concerns like high inflation and slowing industrial output, besides a global slowdown.
The Planning Commission will bring out a policy paper on the regulatory framework for the infrastructure sector by end of 2004.
The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key short-term rates by 25 basis points to cool inflation and many experts believe that it will make money dearer to tame inflation in its April 20 annual monetary policy announcement.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday that inflation would go up and hover between 4 and 5 per cent by the end of this year.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the fiscal stimulus package unveiled by the government was "adequate" and the next package should aim at creating productive investments in infrastructure.
According to latest Central Statistical Organisation's estimates, the economy will grow at a rate of 5 per cent in the current fiscal -- the lowest in over a decade.
Ahluwalia's statement comes in the backdrop of Reserve Bank of India's tight monetary policy and high inflation.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank's decision to tighten the money supply will not have any impact on growth and the economy would do better than 8 per cent expansion rate projected by the central bank.
Mukherjee said uncertainty was still there on oil prices front due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa.
The government is doing a lot to push growth but the impact of its efforts will be felt in the second half of the fiscal when the expansion rate will show some improvement, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Raise diesel prices or else face a situation similar to the recent grid failure which led to complete blackout across 20 states for hours, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Friday.
He rejected the recommendation of the report that "major emitters" in developing countries should aim at an emission trajectory that peaks in 2020 and leads to a 20 per cent cut by 2050.
The plan panel on Thursday termed the housing finance racket, involving the chief of LIC Housing Finance and several other officials of PSU banks, as a "very small" incident as far as banking system as a whole was concerned.
Amid criticism over engaging experts from multilateral agencies like World Bank, Planning Commission on Wednesday asserted that none of the "outside bodies"
Hailing the Budget 2009-10 as "growth oriented", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday said there would be no need for another stimulus in the current fiscal.
Last year, the Planning Commission got the approval for the 9 per cent annual average economic growth target under the Approach document for the 12th Plan from the country's apex decision making body, the National Development Council, headed by the Prime Minister with all the chief ministers and Cabinet ministers on board.
India is expected to record a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6 per cent this fiscal, which will improve further in the next fiscal with likely recovery in the global economy, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Indian economic growth had slowed down to 6.7 per cent during 2008-09 due to the impact of global financial crisis from average of 8.7 per cent in the previous five years.
With industrial production contracting by 0.4 per cent in October, for the first time in 15 years, and the exports declining by over 12 per cent during the month, the government came out with a stimulus package on December 7 to spur growth and help the industry combat the impact of global financial meltdown. As part of the stimulus package, the government cut excise duty by 4 per cent across the board, except on petroleum products.
Ahluwalia said India is also interested in stepping up cooperation with China on railways development.
Terming HSBC's projection at 5.2 per cent for the current fiscal as incorrect, Ahluwalia said the second half is likely to be better than the first half's.
Power distribution companies in the country are estimated to have incurred a staggering loss of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in the last fiscal and the amount is expected to be as much as Rs 1,16,000 crore (Rs 1,160 billion) by 2014-15.
India's fiscal deficit is expected to be 5.6 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal as against the budget estimates of 4.6 per cent of GDP.
The data further revealed that GDP growth rate was 9.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2009-10 and 8.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2010-11.
The Planning Commission on said food prices will come down in the next two months easing the overall inflation, which is currently at over 8.5 per cent.
Asked whether the improvement in the index of industrial production data, released today, indicates that the worst is over for industry, Ahluwalia said, "We do believe that the worst is over. (But) there is difference between the worst being over and getting back to robust growth.
"They (prices of petroleum products) should be linked to world prices," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI when asked about the global crude prices now surging to about $70 a barrel.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board on March 6 cleared the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia's bid to launch an airline in India by joining hands with Tata Sons.
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