Attributed prevailing economic slowdown to sluggish global and domestic factors, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has stated that efforts to revive infrastructure investment would help the domestic economy to achieve its potential 8 percent growth rate in the next three years. Ahluwalia added that fundamentals of Indian economy are strong and providing impetus to the economic growth.
Ahluwalia further asserted that India is currently working to revive the pace of investment in infrastructure and also addressing certain domestic constraints like high inflation. Indian economy’s growth slowed down to a decade low at 4.5 percent in FY13 and 4.6 percent during the first three quarters of FY14. The Government expected India’s GDP to grow by 4.9% in FY14, however, to reach the expected target, GDP needs to expand by 5.5% in Q4 FY14 that will be the highest growth rate since the Q3 FY12.
The infrastructure development is a most critical prerequisite to boost the economic growth. Meanwhile in order to expedite the implementation of infra projects, the government has been taking various measures. Recently, it has set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to accord fast track clearances to large projects. Till now, the CCI had cleared around 210 projects worth Rs 3.84 lakh crore. During the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.