Government Will Intervene If Needed To Boost Growth, Says Economic Adviser

If the need arises, the government will infuse funds to insulate the economy from the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, principal economic adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said on Tuesday.

Addressing a summit organised by industry body Confederation Of Indian Industry (CII) in Kolkata, Mr Sanyal said that there is enough monetary space for the government to intervene and it will provide financial help to propel the economy.

At the same time, the principal economic adviser expressed hope that the economy will touch the double-digit mark during the current financial year, provided there are no major disruptions.

He highlighted that the infrastructure sector remains the key focus area of the government and it will receive a major chunk of its spending so that demand grows.

In order to revive the economy, investment in infrastructure sector is the need of the hour, Mr Sanyal said, adding that “we have kept fiscal and monetary space. We will pump in moneywhen required… We will ramp it up but through capital expenditure. As even with good revenues, we will have a deficit. We want to keep a large amount of assets for the next generation to serve debts.”

In the longer term, he informed that the infrastructure sector will play an important part in the government's action plan to come out of the pandemic's effect, especially as it is quite bullish on the asset monetisation programme.

The government has already lined up assets like telecom towers, stadia, gas pipelines and other assets for monetisation over the next five years.