India's economic growth remained below the 5 per cent mark for the second year in a row at 4.7 per cent in 2013-14, but the industry is hopeful of a rebound with a stable government headed by Narendra Modi, considered pro-business.
India's economic growth remained subdued at 4.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013-14 and during the entire fiscal, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing and mining output.
As per the data, the economic growth remained below 5 per cent for two consecutive years after a gap of almost 25 years. Earlier from 1984-85 to 1987-88, the economic growth rate remained below 5 per cent.
"...The ushering in of a stable government, post elections, has revived sentiments and lifted investor confidence which would pave the way for growth. But much more is required to turn around the economy," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee.
The forthcoming budget, CII has suggested, should aim at reviving business confidence and giving a fillip to growth. This includes fast-tracking projects, early implementation of GST, bringing a simple, stable and non-adversarial tax regime, doing away with retrospective amendments.
The country's economy, or gross domestic product (GDP), had expanded at 4.5 per cent in 2012-13, the slowest pace in the previous decade.
Growth in 2013-14 was less than the Central Statistics Office's (CSO) advance estimate of 4.9 per cent. The economy expanded 4.4 per cent in fourth quarter of 2012-13, according to official data released here today by the CSO.
The manufacturing sector declined 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter as against growth of 3 per cent a year ago and contracted 0.7 per cent in the financial year compared to a growth of 1.1 per cent in 2012-13.
Mining and quarrying contracted 0.4 per cent in the January-March quarter as against a decline of 4.8 per cent in the same period of 2012-13. During 2013-14, the sector's output shrank 1.4 per cent compared with a 2.2 per cent dip in production in 2012-13.
