Increase in exports, improvement in CAD, manufacturing will help boost Indian economy, says Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is confident that India’s economy will continue to grow on the back of strong fundamentals

Healthy increase in the country's exports, improvement in the current account deficit (CAD) and focus on expanding manufacturing will help the Indian economy register a healthy growth rate, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said. He was here to participate in a programme of the gems and jewellery industry.

The Minister expressed confidence that India’s goods and services exports would cross $800 billion this fiscal. It was $778 billion in 2023-24 and USD 776 billion in 2022-23.

Mr. Goyal said that the mood amongst industry and exporters is “wonderful” and a “very great” sense of confidence is there among the investors about the India growth story.

“I think this year we will end with over $800 billion exports...We also focus a lot on expanding our manufacturing capacities, so that our import dependencies can come down and CAD is also showing healthy improvement in the last few months. We are very confident that the Indian economy is poised for both healthy and organised growth and providing opportunities to lakhs of people across India,” the Minister told PTI.

S&P Global Ratings has retained India's GDP growth forecast for the current financial year at 6.8% and said high interest rates and lower fiscal spur would temper demand.

While another rating agency Fitch estimates India's growth at 7.2% in FY25, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates India's GDP to grow at 7%.

Moody's Ratings and Deloitte India estimates India's GDP to grow at 6.6% in 2024-25 fiscal, while Morgan Stanley projects a growth rate of 6.8%.