Rajiv Kumar, Vice-chairman Niti Aayog and Meghnad Desai, economist and British politician, were in conversation with The New Indian Express’ Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla and Senior Journalist Kaveree Bamzai during TNIE’s E-Expressions series India is set to grow at over 8% and the growth will be driven by the private sector forward, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday.
“I sincerely believe this that we are now in the cusp of a major change. With all transformation that has been done in the last seven years in terms of foundational structural difficult reforms, I think we have now put a framework in place where we will see the private sector driving growth and being in the driver’s seat going forward,” Rajiv Kumar said.
Rajiv Kumar and economist Meghnad Desai was in a discussion with Prabhu Chalwa, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express, and Senior Journalist Kaveree Bamzai on economy, as part of the discussion series “The platinum pride: India at 75”.
Expressing confidence over the economic growth of the country, which he feels will grow at over 8%, Kumar said that not only India will remain fastest growing economy but the growth will be sustainable and inclusive.
“I’m confident of that this growth rate will be sustained because enough measures have been taken to ensure that when growth happens it also goes down to the bottom of the pyramid and that people don’t get left out of it. So with reforms like Jan Dhan account, direct benefit scheme, we will make sure that this growth is more inclusive than in the past,” Kumar said.
According to Meghnad Desai, going by the current scenario, even the sustained economic growth that is at 5% will be good. “I have seen big promises in India and the people are very patient they tolerate failures. But I think what is needed is a sustained growth and even at 5% would be good. India has to exploit the outside world to help its growth, but it also has to have this partnership between the public sector and the private sector, and so I think at some stage the state will have to shrink slightly because its bureaucracy is very big and extremely expensive,” Desai said.
Commenting on the role of private sector in driving India’s growth, Meghnad Desai said that much will depend on how much the government trusts the private sector. “I’m very glad that at last there is a government in power which will trust the private sector. There is no political party in India, which openly says private sector in the heart of the economy, or private sector will take us forward.
“It is always the government which will tell the private sector what to do. So if there is a genuine change in political attitude about the private sector, I think that’s very welcome,” Desai said.