India poised for 8% GDP growth: ET Awards Panel

MUMBAI: Indian economy is on the threshold of expanding at 8% per annum at the least for many years as it enters the promising phase of recovering from the teething troubles of the new tax regime and demonetisation at a time when macroeconomic indicators are among the best in the world, top Indian and foreign business leaders and key ministers said at the glittering ET Awards ceremony on Saturday.

The country will see a spurt in domestic and foreign investment along with creation of millions of jobs if the government makes it easier for entrepreneurs to do business and bankers get well-structured, sound projects to appraise, panellists at the ET Awards ceremony said.

Railways alone would invest $150 billion in the next five years, Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal told the high-profile gathering of entrepreneurs, chief executives, bankers and other key players in the economy. He said India would certainly grow at 8% next year, and at a faster rate in the years ahead as more of the economy gets more formalised and benefits of the reforms start pouring in.

Sharing Goyal’s optimism was Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, General Atlantic CEO William Ford, ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal at the panel discussion on “Growth Challenges: Reviving Investments, Creating Jobs”.

Mittal said telecom companies had already taken the lead in investing, which includes his own company’s expenditure of Rs 22,000 crore this year. “It is one pocket where private investment is high,” he said, adding that India was the world’s most promising investment destination, which was attracting billions of dollars from global firms. “In the coming months, the formalisation of the economy will be the kicker to the economy. GST will be beneficial.

The effects of demonetisation will fade away as we are already seeing in re-monetisation. India will see a growth of 8% for several years. All ingredients are in place,” said Mittal.

Fadnavis was the most optimistic, promising big steps forward in the next few months, and Maharashtra’s own economy touching the $1 trillion mark by 2030. He said investors were ready to spend, and there is a huge demand for goods and services, leaving the government with the task of facilitating business activity and ease of doing business. “The demand is there, investors are there. In two or three months we will see real change…. Just wait for two or three months. You cannot stop us,” he said.

Kochhar said Indian banks were poised to gain enormously from recapitalisation announced by the government. She said India had all the ingredients in place, and the banks now needed bankable, well-structured projects to lend. She said an important macroeconomic indicator, credit growth, was improving.

It started the year with 5% growth, improved to 7% and was currently 8.5%. “Again this capital should be used judiciously for projects that are bankable,” she said.

Ford said India looked very attractive to global business as it was a “macroeconomic sweet spot” with a stable currency, declining deficits and low inflation. He was also optimistic about the country growing strongly in the years ahead and said this was an exciting period.