‘India is fast growing major economy’, Finance Minister said in Parliament – About 13.5 crore people came out of poverty in the last five years

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament on Thursday that India remains the fastest growing economy in the world and has made significant contributions across all sectors. On the allegations of the opposition, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Rajya Sabha that the government never hesitates in discussing the country’s economy. Actually, the Finance Minister was replying to the short-term discussion held in the Rajya Sabha on ‘Economic situation in the country’. He said the GDP rate was high in July-September; We have continued to maintain the momentum of being the fastest growing major economy.

Sitharaman said economic activity has been good across all sectors; All sectors are progressing significantly. He said that the manufacturing sector is contributing significantly to the economy due to various measures like PLI scheme. The Finance Minister said that India has become the fifth largest economy in the world in the last eight years and the growth is visible in all sectors and is not limited to just one. He pointed out that during the second quarter of the current financial year, India’s GDP grew by 7.6 per cent, while the world’s third and fourth largest economies experienced contraction during the period.

The Finance Minister stressed that the manufacturing sector has contributed significantly to the Indian economy due to various measures taken by the government such as the Make in India program and the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The minister described India as the second most sought-after manufacturing destination in the world. Regarding taxes, he said, “Direct tax collections increased by 21.82 per cent this year till November 9 and monthly GST collections have stabilized at Rs 1.6 lakh crore in a sign of economic growth.” He said that in the last five years, about 13.5 crore people have come out of multidimensional poverty.

Regarding rising prices in the country, the minister said that the government has taken steps to control inflation. He said retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached a peak of 7.8 per cent in April 2022, however, it now remains close to the target of 4 per cent given by the Reserve Bank of India. Sitharaman said that today India ranks first among the countries of the world in the production of milk, pulses, cotton, sugar and some other things, while it ranks second in the production of rice, wheat, sugarcane and fruits and vegetables. He said that India today ranks third in the world in sectors like fish, automobile, pharma and energy production.