India will remain the fastest growing major economy in 2024-25, says CEA Nageswaran

India will remain the fastest growing major economy in 2024-25, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said at a press conference after the Economic Survey was tabled in Parliament on Monday.

The Economic Survey presented today estimates that India will grow at 6.5-7.0 per cent in 2024-25.

Global institutions including IMF, OECD, World Bank, S&P, ADB and Fitch have estimated India’s growth rate to be between 6.6-7.2 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised India’s growth projections for 2024 to 7 per cent from 6.8 per cent earlier in its latest forecast, making the country the fastest growing among emerging markets and developing economies.

According to official data from the Government of India, the country’s GDP is projected to grow by an impressive 8.2 percent during the financial year 2023-24. India’s economy grew by 7.2 percent in 2022-23 and 8.7 percent in 2021-22.

Further, the CEA in its press conference estimated that India’s per capita income is expected to grow from around Rs 2 lakh in 2022-23 to Rs 14.9 lakh in 2046-47.

Further, the CEA said that domestic savings of Indians in physical assets has been increasing over the last three financial years (2023-24).

Addressing the press conference, the CEA said that household savings in physical assets is expected to increase from 8 per cent in 2020-21 to 12.9 per cent in 2022-23.

“Households are not in distress, they are investing in financial assets, which have performed very well. Financial assets of households are not sold at market value, so overall households are doing quite well,” he/she said.

According to the survey, India needs both banks and capital markets to provide the required finance from high levels of domestic savings.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday tabled the Economic Survey in Parliament, a day ahead of the full Budget 2024-25.

The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and under the supervision of the Chief Economic Adviser, gives a glimpse of the state of the economy for 2023-24 (April-March) and various indicators and some outlook for the current year.

The Economy Survey document also gave some insight into the form and format of the actual Budget for 2024-25 to be presented on Tuesday.