A day after official data showed the economy grew 7.9 per cent in the January-March quarter and that the fiscal deficit target for 2015-16 had been met, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said we could touch eight per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the current financial year with a good monsoon, despite global headwinds.
At a media briefing on Wednesday, after a Cabinet meeting, he said: “With all the reform measures, policy initiatives, the direction the Budget has given this year for growth, especially for agriculture and the rural sector -- we are beginning to see the results. This is reflected in the overall GDP and in the fiscal numbers.”
GDP grew 7.6 per cent in FY16, up from 7.2 per cent a year before. Full-year growth was fuelled by close to an eight per cent rise in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, fastest in the world and also since the new domestic GDP series was launched in 2011-12.
As a percentage of GDP at current prices, the fiscal deficit for 2015-16 was 3.9 per cent, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said it would be in February.
Das noted the revenue deficit had significantly improved, from 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2013-14, to 2.9 per cent in 2014-15 and 2.5 per cent in 2015-16. The secretary said Plan expenditure at Rs 4.71 lakh crore in 2015-16 was higher than the Budget estimate of Rs 4.65 lakh crore. Capital expenditure had exceeded budget estimates for the first time in five years, he added.
