GDP growth will be better this fiscal: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said GDP in the current fiscal will be better than the 7.3 per cent growth rate recorded in the last financial year and improve further in subsequent years.
He said manufacturing sector recorded a "significant" growth of 9.3 per cent in the September quarter despite an adverse global situation and hoped that private sector investments would pick up faster in coming quarters.
"I think the second quarter figures give us a sense of satisfaction... We expect growth this year to be better than last year and even better the next year," Jaitley said.
He was responding to the GDP growth rate which came in at 7.4 per cent for July-September, higher than 7 per cent in the April-June quarter.

"And when manufacturing starts turning despite globally adverse circumstances, I think that's a very significant figure from our point of view," he said at the contract-signing event of the Indian Railways.
Jaitley said the country has been facing a large number of domestic and global challenges, and slowly private investments have started to pick up.

"A slowdown of the global economy at least visibly impacts our exports, so that is one challenge we have. There is also private sector investment which has now started picking up... And I do hope in months to come that it picks up faster," he said.

Jaitley said foreign direct investment, particularly in greenfield projects, has grown and public investments too have gained traction.
The data released by CSO today showed that manufacturing sector grew 9.3 per cent in July-September as against 7.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das
tweeted that the second quarter GDP growth at 7.4 per cent strengthens positive outlook for the current year. "7.5 per cent for the year looks achievable," he said.
Manufacturing growth at 9.3 per cent is an important growth driver, he said, adding "(we) will continue to work for bigger success of Make in India".

Jaitley said the country can grow much faster if the government is able to stick to the reforms process.
He further said the second quarter numbers have been satisfactory "despite the fact that the global situation is adverse and the rain gods have not been very kind to us for two consecutive years, which is normally a rare thing to happen".
He said both the manufacturing and services figures appear to be encouraging.
Jaitley further said the growth in indirect tax collection numbers has started getting reflected in the manufacturing sector growth.
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Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said that the economic growth would have touched 8 per cent mark in the July-September quarter had some of the macroeconomic indicators been in India's favour.

"I think we would have definitely got 8 per cent growth if some of the macroeconomic indicators would have been in our favour. Obviously, we are seeing global economic slowdown and that is hurting us, we had deficient monsoon. Had these two factors been little bit stronger, I am sure we would have surpassed 8 per cent growth," Sinha told a private news channel.
The minister further expressed hope that India's economic growth will surpass 8 per cent mark in the third and fourth quarters.
Asked whether the government is hopeful of implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2016, Sinha said, "We are very hopeful, we are eternal optimist. The good news I think is we have been able to narrow down the issues to handful."

"....You know in any negotiation, if we can see the light at the tunnel, that's always reason to be hopeful because we do have now set up issues on which we can work on," he added.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi for a tea at his residence where the discussions covered legislations pending before Parliament, particularly the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill.
The government needs Parliament approval for the GST Bill in the ongoing Winter Session to roll out the new indirect tax regime, as planned, from April 1, 2016.

The Minister said the government expects to continue with dynamic and continuous reform that was languishing in the last decade.
Stating that the government doing enough to increase agriculture economy, Sinha said his government is not about big ideas, it is about delivering results.
"We are strengthening and providing credit for agriculture for green house, deep irrigation projects," he said.
The Minister said the government is working on national crop insurance scheme.