Riding on reforms, Indian economy to grow 8% in FY25: CII

Apex industry chamber, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), expects the Indian economy to ride on the Central government’s reform agenda and register an 8% GDP growth this year (in 2024-25).

"The growth estimate hinges critically on addressing the unfinished reform agenda on priority, in addition to improvement in world trade prospects aiding our exports, twin engines of investment & consumption doing well and expectations of a normal monsoon among other factors," says, Sanjiv Puri, president, CII.

Addressing the media on June 13, Puri says the growth drivers of the economy will be private sector investment, public investment in physical and digital infrastructure, a well-capitalised banking system, booming capital market and reduced dependence on oil.

CII has outlined a 14-point agenda for the new government for driving the next phase of economic transformation.

Stating that many of the next generation reforms lie in the state & concurrent domains and require tough consensus building to take them forward, CII proposed creation of Inter-state Institutional platforms on the lines of GST Councils for this purpose.

The industry body wanted the government to continue its capex led growth strategy along with fiscal consolidation. Part of the windfall dividend of ₹2.1 lakh crore from RBI, could be used to increase capital expenditure by 25% in FY25 from the RE figure of ₹9.5 lakh crore for FY24, it suggested.

It wanted the government to lay down roadmaps to raise the expenditure on public health (to 3% of GDP) and education (to 6% of GDP) by 2030 and focus on skill development initiatives.

CII’s wish list for the new government also included Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) schemes with appropriate outcome indicators for labour intensive sectors with high growth potential such as toys, textiles & apparels, wood based industries, tourism and logistics.

On Ease of Doing Business measures, CII wanted the government to prioritise easing the regulatory and compliance burden through simplification, rationalisation and decriminalisation of regulatory approvals and compliances, time bound clearances using the National Single Window System, strengthening alternate dispute redressal system and adoption self-declaration/third party certification and deemed approvals, wherever feasible. Tax reforms, agri-reforms, reduction of stamp duty on land transfers, phasing out of cross-subsidisation of power by industry, operationalisation of the ₹1 lakh crore fund for encouraging innovation R&D in the private sector, announced in the Interim Union Budget 2024-25, etc. were some of the other proposals made by the industry body.