Coming down heavily on Congress leader P Chidambaram's comment that India becoming the third largest economy is just an "arithmetic inevitability", Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the GDP growth does not happen automatically and it takes cohesive policy, leadership and a firm grip on the administration to achieve it. Chidambaram's comment was against the BJP's manifesto guarantee of India becoming the third-largest economy in the third term.
"We have to work together to ensure the Viksit Bharat Goal by 2047. In this process, GDP has to grow, it has to widen and has to be inclusive. Growth in GDP does not happen automatically. A lot of efforts are required at the macro-level and micro-level," said Sitharaman in her address at Gitam University in Vizag.