India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at 9.2 per cent to Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Monday. In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha, Chaudhary said the government has implemented several major reforms in recent years to boost investment and GDP growth.
“As per the first advance and first revised estimates of GDP released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the size of real GDP has been increased from Rs 105.3 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 135.6 lakh core in 2020-21 and estimated to be Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22,” he said. In FY 2020-21, he said that as a major part of its policy response to the pandemic, the government while providing a safety net to the vulnerable sections of the society implemented several structural reforms to strengthen private sector investment.
These include the change in the definition of MSMEs, new PSU policy, commercialisation of coal mining, higher FDI limits in defence and space sector, development of the Land Bank and Industrial Information System. It also includes the revamp of the viability gap funding scheme for social infrastructure, new power tariff policy and incentivising states to undertake sector reforms, among others, he said.
The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) was launched to provide collateral-free guaranteed loans for business enterprises in various sectors affected by COVID-19, he said. Continuing with the growth supportive measures, he said the Union Budget 2022-23 has announced a 35.4 per cent increase in the outlay of capital expenditure, PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for seamless multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency, and expansion of guarantee cover for MSME, among others.
Ease of Doing Business 2.0 reforms, human capital formation through universalisation of quality education and the establishment of a digital university, urban development, export promotion, clean and sustainable mobility, extension of ECLGS by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore were also announced in the Budget, he said. Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the number of persons living below the poverty line in India has been estimated at 27 crore in 2011-12.
This estimation was based on erstwhile Planning Commission estimated poverty lines and poverty ratio in 2011-12, following the extant Tendulkar Committee methodology and released through a Press Note issued on July 22, 2013.
