'India poised to achieve double-digit growth by Q4'

India is poised to achieve double digit growth by the fourth quarter of this year, Union Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

Addressing the 6th Annual Growth Net Summit jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Ananta Centre and Smadja & Smadja here, Goyal said "There is a demand uptick in the economy and the goal of achieving double digit growth by the fourth quarter of the year is plausible."

Goyal's comment comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that many more steps need to be taken for India to reach double digit growth.

Addressing the gathering, Goyal stressed that the government is committed to maintaining the fiscal deficit at 3.3 percent in the current year.

On oil prices, Goyal said the excise revenues from oil had been used for infrastructure and also shared with the states, adding that the situation post the recent oil price hike is being monitored.

"The country has focused on social and economic stability, structural changes and the strength of governance and institutions for successfully achieving growth targets," he added.

Goyal further claimed that the government has created a 'fundamental break from the old mindset' as the country is providing good roads and universal household electricity.

"It (Government) is simultaneously dealing with the third imperative of engaging with modern technology such as Artificial Intelligence and Robotics," he added.

Goyal further assured that the Government is addressing every element of the power value chain to ensure that last mile- connectivity to each household is available in three years.

"The government has simultaneously focused on increasing coal production, bringing down the prices of renewable and minimising the losses of the power distribution companies through schemes such as Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY)," he added.

Goyal also noted that the ambitious renewable energy programme has expanded plans to generate 100 gigawatts (GW) solar energy for India by 2022.

"At least, 481 government schemes have been brought under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme. The Government has focused on bringing about a change in the economy, not for a specific section of the economy but to impact each one of the 1.2 billion spread across the length and breadth of the country," he added.