MUMBAI: India is at the threshold of a major structural shift in its growth trajectory, highlighted Shaktikanta Das, Reserve Bank of India Governor, on Tuesday during his address at the 188th AGM (Annual General Meeting) of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The governor added that India is moving ahead towards 8 per cent GDP growth in a sustained manner, adding that the average growth India recorded in the last three years is 8.3 per cent. “If you look at the average growth India recorded over the three years, the average comes to 8.3 per cent and the current year we have given a projection of 7.2 per cent growth,” said the Governor. He also stated that during the last year, the Indian economy has contributed a major share to the global economy and called it an achievement for India. “Indian economy in the last financial year 2023-24 contributed to 18.5 per cent of the global growth, i.e., 18.5 per cent of the global growth was driven by India. It is an achievement; it was much lower 7 or 8 years ago and I think the IMF projects this growth to go up,” he said. He highlighted that the major drivers of this growth are the implementation of GST, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and Flexible Inflation Targeting. “The main drivers of this growth, particularly in the last three years, are the various structural reforms which have been undertaken and several other policy initiatives that have been undertaken in the country, including GST,” he added. Highlighting the importance and achievements of GST, the governor added that “It (GST) has the advantage of avoiding the multiplicity of taxes. GST is one of India’s biggest structural reforms since 1947.” He added that GST has settled down in India well because there are instances where some countries have rolled back GST after implementation. But now GST collections have touched 1.7 lakh crore in a month and it is in a range of 1.5 to 1.7 lakh crore every month. He also shared that India is poised to become the third-largest economy from the current fifth largest.
