PM Modi sets ambitious India economic goals for probable third term
Live MintIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, confident of winning a national election starting this month, has set an ambitious target of roughly doubling the economy and exports this decade, according to a government document seen by Reuters. Independent economist Saugata Bhattacharya said doubling the economy by the end of the decade would be a "very difficult feat" requiring 6%-6.5% growth for the next seven years along with inflation of 4.5%. A former senior finance ministry official, Subhash Chandra Garg, said growth projections like those in the document are mostly based on "backward arithmetical calculations" and lack any "reform and investment plan". "Usually such mental gymnastics based on arithmetic calculations and assumptions are meaningless unless there is serious reform and investment plan to test it for real economy dynamics," said Garg, the Modi government's finance secretary until 2019. The main opposition Congress party says India's economic growth in the past few years under Modi has done little to create jobs and alleviate rural distress, while the disparity between rich and poor has widened.