GST collection, consumption of electricity show recovery: C Rangarajan

06 Nov 2020 Evaluate

Former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) C Rangarajan has said that the decline in the growth of the economy triggered by covid-19 pandemic was like a coma that stays for a short period.  He said ‘normally coma lasts for several years (in medical terms). But there are people who come out of it in a shorter period. This is a coma which is short-lived. The point is as you (gradually) lift the lockdown, I expect the economic activity to pick up. There are indications or signs of the economy picking up -- collection of GST (goods and services tax) and consumption of electricity’.

According to the Finance Ministry, the GST collected in October rose to Rs 1.05 lakh crore, crossing the Rs one-lakh- crore mark for the first time since February this year, reflecting a pick-up in the economic activity. The revenues for the month were 10 per cent higher than Rs 95,390 crore collected in the same month last year. Besides, Rangarajan said beginning September till March, there could be a pick-up in economic activity. But it will not be adequate to compensate for the loss that happened in the first half of the financial year. He also said if there is no second wave of COVID-19, 2021-22 can see a pick-up and by the end of FY 2021-22, there will be further picking up of the economy.

Noting that the growth rate was 9 percent for three consecutive years between 2000 and 2010, he said, unfortunately, it later fell and further declined. He said ‘we need a fast-growing economy and that requires not only measures not only from the government but also from the private sector.’ Talking on the weakening of the rupee against the US dollar, he said inflation should be brought under control as external value of the currency was determined by its internal value. 

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