Expressing hopes on growth of India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that the ongoing global trade war may have created ‘initial instability’, but will gradually open up opportunities for India to emerge as a bigger trading and manufacturing base. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports has triggered a trade war with several countries including China, which have announced retaliatory measures.
Jaitley further said some global trends do ‘adversely affect’ India, but going ahead they will open up avenues for the country to grow faster. He said ‘The trade war initially created instability, but eventually may open up greater markets. They will open up India as a bigger trading and manufacturing base and, therefore, we must closely watch the situation as to when the challenge turns into an opportunity.’
Noting that India has been growing faster than major economies in the world, he said ‘I won’t be surprised if for several years to come we continue in that direction. There are opportunities for growth. This is our opportunity to catch up on the slow growth we have experienced in the past. We still have avenues for faster growth.’ He added that faster growth rate means more jobs, more revenues for government and an enriched government spends more money on development.
The Minister said in the last few years formalisation of economy has taken place and Goods and Serives Tax (GST) and demonetisation has helped in this. The number of income tax assessed has hugely increased and assesses registered under GST too have gone up by 74% over earlier indirect tax regime. However, referring to rising oil prices in the international market, he said that it poses a challenge for the economy since India is a net importer of crude oil. The country imports 81% of its oil needs.
