The government is sticking to the target of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and emphasis on the infrastructure sector and other initiatives taken in Budget 2021-22 are aimed at achieving the goal, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said. The Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday has given a big push to infrastructure spending, monetization of assets, ramping up of capacities in the healthcare sector and agriculture sector, among others. These initiatives are aimed at reviving the economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have not revised the target. We are pushing for it. The various initiatives of the government including an emphasis on infrastructure are targeting towards achieving that goal,” Bajaj told PTI in an interview.
The spending on infrastructure has gone up from Rs 4.12 lakh crore to Rs 5.54 lakh crore while in the health sector it has risen to Rs 2.23 lakh crore from Rs 94,000 crore in the Budget Estimate for 2020-21.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 envisioned making India a USD 5 trillion economy and a global economic powerhouse by 2024-25. With this, India would become the third-largest economy in the world.
Although the Indian economy is estimated to contract by 7.7 per cent during the current fiscal, it is projected to record a growth rate of over 11 per cent in 2021-22. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected an impressive 11.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2021. This expected growth rate would make the country the only major economy in the world to register a double-digit growth amid the coronavirus pandemic.