Govt taking steps to take economy to higher growth path: Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth

NEW DELHI: Although global slowdown is affecting the country, the fundamentals of Indian economy are strong and the government is taking a series of steps to see it moves to a higher growth trajectory, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth today.

The world economy is passing through a very difficult phase and the performance of the Indian economy has to be viewed in this context, Seth said at Global Summit, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"There is no dearth of projections and statistics which we see bandied about, about what the growth rate (is). We say the GDP in the April to June quarter was 5.5 per cent. Well, this is no doubt less than the 8 per cent figure of the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal," Seth said.

"Look at the positive side, in the first quarter of the year, the economy has recorded a higher growth rate than the previous quarter. We should remember that the world is passing through difficult times and whatever is happening outside will influence the domestic economy," he added.

The Union Cabinet Secretary said the Indian economy has seen similar difficult times in the not too distant past and managed to come out of it well.

"So, I do not see any reason at all why we should be pessimistic and I am not pessimistic at all. The macro- economic fundamentals are still intact. So it is not as if everything is going wrong. Not it is not," Seth said.

He also said the Finance Minister had on the August 6 made a statement in which he gave some indication about the way in which the government intends to react to the current situation and to see that the economy goes on to a high growth trajectory.

"I can just say at this stage that the government is considering a series of measures to implement the announcements made by the Finance Minister," he said.