Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is on a six-day visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles starting on Monday, highlighted India's stable economic conditions during COVID-19 pandemic and said that the country has emerged as the trusted partner of the world.
Speaking at a luncheon interaction with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) where he launched six new chapters in Arizona, Austin, Los Angeles, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio, he said, "Today with the kind of structural reforms that happened in India, the island of stability that India offers, amidst the global disturbances, India is holding strong, growth is continuing to be amongst the highest in the large economies, inflation relatively being less than other parts of the world, particularly the developed countries."
While the world is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, India has emerged as a stable economy. With game-changing economic reforms in India, Goyal urged Chartered Accountants to present the tremendous investment opportunities back home to their clients & be ambassadors of Brand India.
He also urged CAs to be ambassadors of 'Brand India'. "Spread the message of One District One Product," he said, adding, "Would appeal to all of you to choose 'Made In India' goods for gifting."
"With a stable environment, India has become probably one of the world's most attractive investment destinations. The trusted partner in the works and it is evident in the way world leaders and developed countries are making every effort to expand their engagement with India -- looking for bilateral agreements, to expand trade with India investments into India," said Goyal.
Inflation in India is at about 6-7 per cent. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is up by about 6.7 per cent by the last account. This is lower than what it used to be 10 years ago. Post-2014, India has focused on inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the central government entered into a formal agreement mandating the RBI to maintain inflation as a primary focus of its activities. Since 2014, India has seen inflation at an average of about four and a half per cent, probably the lowest since independence.
"We have had a small bump in the last few months and we are all very conscious of the background to it. Post-COVID, coupled with the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, there is an increase in inflation across the world. Even in the developed countries, the inflation is now at 10 or 11 per cent as compared to India, which ranges between 6 -7 per cent," said the Union Minister.
Goyal also underscored the economic changes in India and discussed economic reforms in India like the implementation of GST. Moreover, there is renewed enthusiasm to expand the frontiers of economic activity. Growth rates in India suggest we are on course to become USD 30 trillion economy in 30 years.
"You're all aware of the game-changing economic reforms that have happened in India -- the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The effort to decriminalize laws and make it easier to do business. The fact that we are trying to reduce compliances significantly. The low corporate tax for new businesses coming into India. The removal of the dividend distribution tax which was a deterrent for international investment into India because they were paying almost 22 per cent on their dividends and that was not getting a tax set off on the Double Tax Avoidance (DTA)," said Goyal.
He also underscored the importance of the single window system that was launched in September 2021 as a one-stop digital platform that aimed at allowing investors to apply for various pre-operations approvals required for commencing a business in the country.
"The single window that we have tried to create all of these are clearly pointing to a very renewed enthusiasm in India to expand the frontiers of business economic activity. I very often said that as growth rates in India are suggesting we will be a USD 30 trillion economy in the next 30 years. You take an 8 per cent growth rate and extrapolate the current USD 3.3 trillion economy and you're looking at 30 trillion and a very conservative way to probably see the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) predicted it to be anywhere between USD 35 and USD 45 trillion by 2047," said Goyal.