Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said the government is unlikely to meet the Budget targets for current financial year (FY21) due to the COVID-19 crisis but contraction in economic growth may not be as severe as being pointed out by the outside world. He said the government on a regular basis is monitoring 14-15 parameters which can give early signs of where the economy is heading. This includes E-way Bill, power consumptions, GST collections etc and every parameter is showing promising result.
On the figures of first advance tax collection as of June 15, he said, ‘the revenues that were collected that month gave us a promise that this year, if we continue in that manner and we are not saddled with any more surprises, may not be as bad as the outside world thinks or as we were thinking.’
Acknowledging that India went for severest lockdown in the world, he said, it had its impact on the economy. He said it brought down the economic growth to 4.2 per cent while pushing the fiscal deficit to 4.6 per cent during 2019-20. However, he expressed confidence that the country will be back on the growth journey from next year based on the incoming data. He also highlighted that COVID-19 crisis was also used as an opportunity to usher in long pending reforms in the agriculture sector to ensure better price for farmers for their produce.
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