Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an optimist. Despite the flailing economy and projections of GDP growth slowing to an 11-year low in the current fiscal, PM Modi seems confident the Indian economy has the capacity to bounce back.??PM Modi, who seems to have taken charge of the efforts to revive the economy, has over the past few days held as many as 12 brainstorming meetings with different stakeholders over various issues affecting the economy and to thrash out appropriate policy interventions in the upcoming Budget.
The Prime Minister met economists, private equity and venture capitalists, business leaders and agri experts at Niti Aayog, and called for focussed efforts from all stakeholders to achieve the target of nearly doubling the size of the Indian economy to USD 5 trillion by 2024.
After the meeting, PM Modi tweeted, "Unwavering in our commitment to become a five trillion dollar economy!"
"Today, had in-depth consultations with economists, business leaders and policy experts from various fields on diverse range of subjects. Such synergy augurs well for national progress," he said in the tweet.
He has been devoting a considerable amount of time in personally overseeing the policy matrix aimed at engineering a quick turnaround of the Indian economy, which is estimated to grow at 5 per cent in 2019-20, significantly lower than 6.8 per cent growth rate last fiscal and the lowest pace of GDP growth for a full financial year since the global financial crisis in 2008-09.
"We must all work together and start to think like a nation," an official press statement quoted him as saying at the meeting.
At the pre-Budget meeting at Niti Aayog, PM Modi called for a focussed effort from all stakeholders in order to achieve the target of USD 5 trillion economy, the statement said.
The Prime Minister said he was happy that the two-hour open discussion has brought to the forefront the experience of people on the ground and those working in their respective fields.
This, he said, would enhance the synergy between policymakers and various stakeholders.
The idea of USD 5 trillion economy is not a sudden development and is based on a deep understanding of the strengths of the country.
"The strong absorbent capacity of the Indian economy shows the strength of basic fundamentals of the Indian economy and its capacity to bounce back," he said adding sectors like tourism, urban development, infrastructure, and agri-based industry have a great potential to taking forward the economy and for employment generation.
He said open discussions and brainstorming in such forums lead to a healthy debate and understanding of the issues.
This would also foster a positive mood and "can do" spirit in the society, he said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present, as she was holding pre-Budget meetings with party workers at BJP headquarters.
Sitharaman will be presenting her second Union Budget on February 1.? The February 1 Budget is widely expected to unveil more measures to boost growth and everyone remains hopeful for the same.