Recently, IMF said that India will grew at 7.5% overtaking China as the fastest growing economy in 2015-16 due to recent policy initiatives made by government of India.But the prospects could change depending on the implementation of the reforms of the new Modi government.
2. The Economy of India is the tenth-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-
largest by purchasing power parity.
Currently, India grew at 7.5 per cent in the October-December quarter, overtaking China’s 7.3
per cent to become the fastest growing major economy in the world.
Agriculture sector is the largest employer in India's economy but contributes a declining share
of its GDP (13.7% in 2012-13).
Its manufacturing industry has held a constant share of its economic contribution (21.5% in
2103)
The fastest-growing part of the economy has been its services sector- accounting for 64.8% of
India’s GDP (as in 2013).
India was the 19th-largest merchandise and the 6th largest services exporter in the world
in 2013.
India's current account deficit surged to 4.1% of GDP during Q2 FY11 against 3.2% the previous
quarter.
The unemployment rate for 2012–13, according to Government of India's Labour Bureau, was
4.7% .
India with 18% of total world's population, had 20.6% share of world's poorest in 2011.
3.
4. Despite the focus on industrialization, agriculture remains a dominant sector
of the Indian economy both in terms of contribution to gross domestic
product (GDP) as well as a source of employment to millions across the
country.
Agriculture plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the
rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of
livelihood.
Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, accounts for one-third of the
nation's GDP and is its single largest contributor.
The total share of Agriculture & Allied Sectors (Including agriculture,
livestock, forestry and fishery sub sectors) in terms of percentage of GDP is
13.9 percent during 2013-14 at 2004-05 prices.
Agricultural exports constitute a fifth of the total exports of the country.
The country is also the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and
spice products in the world and overall in farm and agriculture outputs, it is
ranked second.
5. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 17% of the
GDP and employed 51% of the total workforce in 2012.
India ranks second worldwide in farm output. India accounts for 10% of the world fruit
production
It also has the world's largest cattle population (193 million). It is the second largest
producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish.
Agriculture's contribution to GDP has steadily declined from 1951 to 2011, yet it is still the
largest employment source.
Crop yield per unit area of all crops have grown since 1950,due to the -
special emphasis placed on agriculture in the five-year plans,
steady improvements in irrigation,
technology,
application of modern agricultural practices,
provision of agricultural credit and
subsidies since the Green Revolution in India.
7. Inadequate infrastructure and services.
Lack of Rural Agricultural Market
Small Land- Holdings
Population Pressure
Slow and Uneven Growth
Problems relating to Finance
Problems relating to Irrigation
Lack of Mechanization
8. Need national common market for farm goods.
Agricultural strategy must focus on raising yield, productivity
Technology must focus on land productivity and water use
efficiency.
Favour constitutional clause for common farm goods market
Financial support to extend irrigation and soil health for
enhancing agricultural productivity.
Raising the agricultural credit.
Creation of a unified national agricultural market to fetch a
fair price for the farm produce.
9.
10. Industries are the mainstay of the Indian economy.
They help to promote regional development, eradicate poverty as well as uplift the standard of living
of the people.
India's vast domestic market, skilled and technical manpower as well as low production and R&D
costs have been making India a manufacturing hub.
It has made considerable achievement in terms of output and employment.
The Government of India has been undertaking several policy measures and incentives, from time
and time, in order to promote rapid industrialization in the country.
The major step in this direction has been the announcement of Industrial Policy Resolution, initially
passed in 1948 and then in 1956 and thereafter in 1991.
Such industrial policies have been designed to accelerate the development process in the Indian
industry. Their broad objectives are to:-
Maintain a sustained growth in productivity
Enhance gainful employment
Achieve optimal utilization of human resources
Attain international competitiveness and to transform India into a major partner and player in the
global arena.
They focus on deregulating Indian industry as well as allowing it flexibility in responding to market
forces.
11. Industry accounts for 26% of GDP and employs 22% of the total
workforce.
According to the World Bank, India's industrial manufacturing GDP
output in 2012 was 10th largest in the world on current US dollar basis.
The Indian industrial sector underwent significant changes as a result
of the economic liberalization in India economic reforms of 1991, which
removed import restrictions,
brought in foreign competition,
led to the privatization of certain government owned public sector
industries,
liberalized the FDI regime,
improved infrastructure and
led to an expansion in the production of fast moving consumer goods.
12.
13. Uneven Growth
Unbalanced Industrial Structure
Regional Concentration
Poor Performance of Public Sector Industries
Lack of Infrastructure
Lack of Capital
Inadequate Generation of Employment Opportunities
Under-Utilization of Capacity
14. Improving the business regulatory framework
Human asset development
Improving technology and value addition in manufacturing
Developing effective clusters for growth of SMEs (small and medium enterprises)
Emphasis should be given to creation of appropriate skill sets among the rural migrant
and urban poor to make growth inclusive.
Enhance global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing through appropriate policy
support.
Ensure sustainability of growth, particularly with regard to the environment.
Tune-up FDI and trade policies to attract quality investment in critical areas.
Improve business regulatory framework: ‘cost of doing business’, transparency,
incentives for R&D, innovation etc.
Better consultation and co-ordination in industrial policy making.
15.
16. The service industry forms a backbone of social and economic development of a region.
Its growth rate has been higher than that of agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
It covers a wide range of activities, such as trading, transportation and communication,
financial, real estate and business services, as well as community, social and personal
services.
It is a large and most dynamic part of the Indian economy both in terms of employment
potential and contribution to national income.
The most important services in the Indian economy has been health and education. They are
one of the largest and most challenging sectors and hold a key to the country's overall
progress.
A strong and well-defined health care sector helps to build a healthy and productive
workforce as well as stabilize population.
Education is the most crucial investment and an essential element in human resource
development. It strongly influences improvement in health, hygiene and demographic
profile.
17. India's services sector has the largest share in the GDP, accounting for 57% in 2012, up
from 15% in 1950.
It is the 12th largest in the world by nominal GDP, and fourth largest when
purchasing power is taken into account.
The services sector provides employment to 27% of the work force.
In India, services sector, as a whole, contributed as much as 68.6 per cent of the overall
average growth in gross domestic product (GDP) between the years 2002-03 and
2006-07.
The share of the Indian IT industry in the country's GDP increased from 4.8% in 2005–
06 to 7% in 2008.
In 2009, seven Indian firms were listed among the top 15 technology outsourcing
companies in the world.
Information technology and business process outsourcing are among the fastest-
growing sectors, and contributing to 25% of the country's total exports in 2007–08.
20. Sustained increase in infrastructure is expected to be one of the crucial factors
for sustaining strong growth during the current decade.
Significant investment in physical infrastructure will also lead to employment
generation, increased production efficiency, reduction in cost of doing business
and improved standard of living.
Physical infrastructure facilitates the easy and wider diffusion of information
and technology, enlarges markets and promotes more innovations.
Physical infrastructure affects the location decisions of the investors and firms.
This helps more industrialization and provision of more employment
opportunities and thus high GDP.
21. Improvement in social infrastructure will help the country to move toward
inclusive growth.
Social infrastructure mainly encompasses the health and education system.
Improvement in health and sanitation facilities can be achieved through
improvement in access to and utilization of health, family welfare and nutrition
services .
Investment in human capital through education, training, health and medical
facilities is an investment that yields additional output and brings an economic
return that is difficult to calculate but decisively significant.
Education and skills improve productivity that in turn leads to higher income and
improvements in livelihoods. The benefits of good education are not confined to
individual economic prosperity, it is vital for a country’s economic performance.
22. Sectors like infrastructure and transportation are essential for the
progress of the economy.
Finding additional opportunities within these areas to increase
competitive edge would be crucial for determining growth in the short-
and long-run.
The reliance on technology for increasing productivity and efficiency
will also be essential in determining the future of different sectors of the
economy and the Indian economy as whole.
Thus, even though the current outlook of India economy is positive, if the
underlying structural issues are not addressed, it could be detrimental to
aspirations of the people of India.
23. The intellectual capital of the workforce and youth in the country plays a significant role in the
sustainable growth of its economy.
The new IP Policy could be a step in the right direction to encourage greater investor confidence and
capital inflows.
India still stands lower than other nations in terms of efforts and investments made towards developing
research and innovation in the country.
For instance, the number of patents filed by the country is barely noticeable in comparison to advanced
countries such as US and Japan.
Innovation will enable both the creation of next-gen entrepreneurs and reaching the ideal production
efficiency in different sectors.
Ineffective measures to encourage the same would lead to stagnant and unsustainable growth in the
economy.
24. There have been numerous campaigns and policies that have been initiated to
drive the success of Indian economy and increase prosperity. While the efforts are
welcome, it would be futile if these are not accompanied by suitable changes in
the bureaucracy and the way in which the society functions.
India's extremely low rankings on the Global Corruption Perception Index is
highly disconcerting and continues to have a detrimental domino effect on the
country's growth and competitiveness.
Stronger efforts need to be made to eradicate this social illness from the country.
The removal of archaic laws is also seen as a positive development for the
economy and society.
25. Service sector continues to spearhead financial growth in the country relative to the other
sectors, and agricultural sector continues to provide high employment. The looming red flag
is still the manufacturing sector, and it's underperformance since long.
Manufacturing has a crucial role to play in driving incremental growth. It is a source of job
creation and it will also act as a catalyst to improve the ease of doing business in India and
will attract more investors.
While campaigns such as 'Make in India' have been set in place to improve its contribution,
it is also necessary to strengthen the existing manufacturing organizations and make them
competitive.
It can be done by utilizing technology, unlocking the creative energies of their employees,
investing in research & development, etc.
Within the manufacturing domain, it would also be helpful if all the stakeholders identify
the specific sectors to focus on.
26. Rate of corporate tax to be reduced to 25% over next four years.
Tax-free bonds for projects in rail road and irrigation
PPP model for infrastructure development to be revitalized and govt. to bear majority of
the risk.
Target of 8.5 lakh crore of agricultural credit during the year 2015-16.
A national skill mission to consolidate skill initiatives spread across several ministries to
be launched.
Measures to curb black money. Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill to be introduced
in the Parliament.
Job creation through revival of growth and investment and promotion of domestic
manufacturing – “Make in India”.
Improve ease of doing business - Minimum Government and maximum governance
Self-Employed Talent Utilization (SETU) will encourage young innovative entrepreneurs
in the technology start-up sector.
27. The Reserve Bank of India forecast the economy to grow at 5.5 per cent in 2014-15 and at 6.3
per cent in next financial year 2015-16.
According to Indian Finance Ministry the annual growth rate of the Indian economy is
projected to have increased to 7.4% in 2014-15 as compared with 6.9% in the fiscal year 2013-
14.
Growth in India is expected to rise to 5.6 per cent in 2014 and pick up further to 6.4 per cent in
2015 as both exports and investment increase," the International Monetary Fund said in its
latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected India’s economy to grow by 7.8 per cent in
2015-16. This is lower than the official estimate of 8.1-8.5 per cent, but higher than China’s
estimated growth of 7.2 per cent in 2015.
India could become the world's seventh biggest nation in terms of private wealth, with a 150
per cent increase in total, from US$ 2 trillion in 2013 to US$ 5 trillion in 2018, as per a recent
study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).