Country’s economic growth to rise at 7.3% this fiscal

Asian development Bank(ADB) recently stated that India’s economic growth is expected to rise to 7.3 percent in 2018-19 and further to 7.6 percent in the next financial year. The growth is expected to be backed by GST and baking reforms. Correspondingly there is a need to regularise action and skill development, labour regulation, social protection and income redistribution as new technologies alter the skills required of the workforce and might cause unemployment as some firms downsize or close.

“Despite the short term costs, the benefits of reform such as the recently implemented GST will propel India’s future growth,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said. Robusat foreign direct investment flows attracted by liberalized regulations and the Government steps to improve the ease of doing will further bolster growth, he added.

The ADB said protectionist trade measures by the united states are yet to impact trade flows to and from Asia. However further action and relation against it (US Trade tariffs) could undermine the business and consumer optimism that underlies the regional outlook (for Asia),” it said. With regard to China, it said the country will slow down from 6.9 percent in 2017 to 6.6 percent in this year and 6.4 percent in 2019. “India would remain the fastest growing country across Asia,” ADB India country director Kenichi Yokoyama said.

He further, said the impact of the US tariff hikes may not be much, but India needs to be cautious. “The biggest risk factor could be the crude oil price” Yokoyama said.