Econ Roadmap
Need farm, MSME reforms for $5-tln econ, CEA tells parliamentary panel
This story was originally published at 21:29 IST on 19 December 2024
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NEW DELHI – Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday highlighted agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises and the unorganised sector as areas on which the government has been focussing to achieve a $5-trillion economy, a member of the parliamentary standing committee on finance told Informist.
The chief economic advisor gave over an hour-long presentation before the panel on how the government was focussing on achieving a $5-trillion economy by 2027-28 (Apr-Mar), another committee member said.
Nageswaran highlighted the challenges in the agriculture, MSME and the unorganised sectors and said that the government was working to introduce reforms in these sectors, the member said. The three sectors have a significant contribution in the country's GDP.
According to the labour minister, the unorganised sector makes a substantial contribution of more than 60% to national income. The unorganised sector is marked by low incomes, unstable and irregular employment, and lack of protection either from legislation or trade unions. It covers most rural labour and a substantial part of urban labour.
Apart from these three areas, Nageswaran also stressed on banking, energy transition and the logistics sector. However, the construction industry was missing from Nageswaran's presentation, about which several committee members raised questions. The members pointed out that the construction industry was one of the highest employment generators in the country. The panel will call Nageswaran again for a briefing on the same subject in January.
In January, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit that India's GDP would touch the $5-trillion mark by FY28, making it the world's third-largest economy. Earlier, in 2018, the government had outlined a plan to make India a $5-trillion economy by FY25.
Currently, India is the world's fifth-largest economy after the US, China, Japan, and Germany. It is projected to surpass Germany and Japan by FY28.
Led by Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Bhartruhari Mahtab, the parliamentary standing committee on finance has selected 22 subjects for examination in FY25, including reviews of the performance of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Indian banking and insurance sectors. Some other subjects listed by the committee for examination include tax reforms and a review of the long-term public finances and debt at the central and state government levels.
The committee consists of 31 members – 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram is among them. The committee examines matters related to the finance ministry as well as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, NITI Aayog, and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Among the subjects on the standing committee's agenda are a review of non-banking financial companies, gaps in their regulation, and the way forward for them.
The committee will also undertake a performance review of the National Statistical Commission, the NITI Aayog's role in appraising the performance of central government schemes and programmes and preparing roadmaps for different sectors of the economy, and the Reserve Bank of India's "evolving role in India's dynamic economy" in the current financial year.
Other entities whose performance will be reviewed include the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Small Industries Development Bank of India. End
US$1 = INR 85.07
Reported by Kuldeep Singh
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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