India is bracing for general elections in April or May 2024 as the country looks to elect a new government for a five-year term. The electoral mandate is expected to reveal how citizens view the 10 years of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, who has held key bureaucratic positions in the current regime, weighs in on the crucial reforms implemented by the centre in the last decade.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog says the transformation from ‘kutcha’ to ‘pukka’ houses, development of roads connecting India’s villages, direct benefit transfers, and financial inclusion of women are among the most significant reforms pursued by the current government.
Kant said that the focus of the government should continue to be on “development, development, development” since young India wants growth.
“India has built 40 million houses, provided 110 million toilets, 253 million piped water connections, built 88,000 kilometres of roads. All these are huge developments, which have taken place in the last seven to eight years. These are massive transformations,” Kant added.
The G20 sherpa believes the PM is popular because ‘`good governance is good politics,” and added that increased budgetary outlays on infrastructure will create new demand and consequently lead to greater growth.
That the current government has been betting big on capital expenditure is evident from the budgetary outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore for FY23-24, 33 percent higher than last fiscal.
Though Kant admitted that global growth is going to slow down, he believes this could also be an opportunity for India to push its reform agenda.
“Even if global growth slows down, India’s share of global GDP has to keep rising. Every crisis is also an opportunity, because others are slowing down. We are a young population, and therefore this is an opportunity for us to carry out all the reforms,” Kant explained.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects global growth to be 3 percent in CY2023, and 2.9 percent in 2024. As far as India is concerned, the IMF has projected a GDP growth of 6.3 percent for the current fiscal, close to the 6.5 percent predicted by Indian authorities, and 6.3 (the rates are the same for both years, please check) percent in 2024-25.
Data released on May 31 showed India’s GDP growth for the first quarter of 2023 had risen to 6.1 percent.