Even as several economists including ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other opposition leaders have predicted bad days ahead for the Indian Economy, President Pranab Mukherjee today said the country is on the cusp of an economic leap.
Addressing the Centenary Year Celebrations of the Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTAPCCI) in Hyderabad, President Mukherjee said, “India is on the cusp of a leap towards a higher economic growth trajectory. A decade after the 2008 global economic crisis, major economies of the world are still limping. But, the Indian economy is growing fast.”
President Mukherjee, who was also Finance Minister during Congress-led UPA regime, expressed confidence that by collective “hard work” people of the country can ensure a rightful place for India in the comity of nations. In a statement released by the President’s secretariat, Mukherjee also “stressed the need to address problems of basic human requirements that include health, education, employment and food to realise India’s demographic advantage.”
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President Mukherjee’s statement comes at a time when the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing an all-out attack from the opposition and several “reputed” economists for demonetising old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. Terming demonetisation as “organised loot and legalised plunder”, Manmon Singh has, “…the way the scheme has been implemented will hurt agricultural growth in our country, will hurt small industry, will hurt all those people who are in the informal sector of the economy. And my own feeling is that the national income, that is the GDP, can decline by about 2 per cent as a result of what has been done.”
Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of international business magazine Forbes, has termed demonetisation as “massive theft of people’s property”. Nobel Laureate and world renowned economist Amartya Sen has also criticised Modi government for the demonetisation decision. In an interview to Indian Express, Sen had rubbished the government’s claim that the “short-term pain” inflicted on people by demonetisation would lead to “long-term gain”. “Good policies sometimes cause pain, but whatever causes pain – no matter how intense – is not necessarily good policy,” Sen said.
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However, President Mukherjee’s statement restores some confidence in the future of Indian economy. On Friday, the President also called upon the Corporate Sector of the country to “come forward and take a pro-active part in the various programmes initiated by the Government of India such as Digital India, Clean India, Make in India, Startup India etc.” Mukherjee also expressed hope that these programmes would help the country continue to progress in the growth trajectory of the past 15 years.
