"Story of the year": USISPF President Aghi hails India's economic growth

New Delhi [India], January 31 : Hailing India's economic growth, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, Mukesh Aghi called it "story of the year" and added that the country's growth is much more predictable than any other now.
He said that at a time when the world seems to be in some kind of turmoil, the success story of India has only continued.
"I think India is a story of the year...while rest of the world seems to be in some kind of turmoil, and India's success story continues. We expect this growth story to continue for the next 10 plus years itself," Aghi told ANI in an interview on Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its growth forecast for 2024, recently predicted that India will emerge as the fastest-growing economy yet again with a robust growth of 6.5 per cent.
On the other hand, other major economies will be showing modest growth. As per the report, the US will grow at 2.1 per cent, Germany will grow at 0.5 per cent, France at 1 per cent, Japan at 0.9 per cent and China at 4.6 per cent.
On comparison of figures of US and China, Aghi said, "You know we are a 25-billion dollar economy, and when you are growing 2.4 pc, you are adding a substantial amount to GDP, as compared to China, which is almost 12-13 trillion dollar economy. And India, which is around 4 trillion, so I think in substantial numbers, the US growth story at over two per cent is a fantastic story. Because the US is able to mainatain this inflation below 4 pc, it is able to maintain its inflation below 4 per cent...."
"It is not accurate to measure US growth story at 2.4, and China at 4.6 per cent, China, earlier used to grow over 6 to 7 per cent, but now it has slowed down," he added.
Aghi, as he went on to say, underlined that the current government (PM Modi's government) has focused on long-term investments rather than short ones, and is hence more predictable than any other country now.
"Now, in the last state elections that took place, and now going forward in the Lok Sabha elections, there is more predictability from a political environment perspective...that translates into economic predictability, economic stability, and economic growth story because this government has focused on looking at long-term investments rather than short ones, so we do expect that India is no longer part of Fragile Five...much more predictable than any other country," he told ANI.
"India, in the last few years, has become more proactive during free trade agreements (FTAs) with major countries; it's working with the UAE and Australia, and I think US politics does not allow, at the moment, to do a trade deal with any other country itself. So I think the momentum that has been picked up from India side..we need to keep it driving with the US also. I think once you have a trade deal, you streamline the supply chain, you streamline technology transfer, so it becomes easier between the two countries..." he added.
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu recently said that the government has kept the inflation under control despite global challenges and did not allow the burden on people to increase.
The President said 2023 was a historic year for the country when it maintained the momentum to be the fastest-growing major economy.
"The year 2023 was a historic year for India when it grew the fastest among major economies despite global crisis. India grew about 7.5 per cent for two consecutive quarters," she said.
She said the government has been continuously working on making it easy to do business in India and creating a suitable environment.
"In the last 10 years, we have seen India move from fragile five to the list of top five countries. FDI has doubled...Today, more than one lakh start-ups have been incorporated," she added.
The Indian economy grew 7.8 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively, during the April-June and July-September quarters of the current financial year 2023-24, thus remaining the fastest-growing major economy.
Notably, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim Union Budget on Thursday.
The interim budget typically takes care of the fiscal needs of the intervening period until a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls.