PM Modi Seeks Double-Digit GDP Growth, Raising India’s Share In World Trade

India needs to target double-digit GDP growth and double its share in world trade to 3.4 percent if it wants to join the $5 trillion economy club, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of a new office complex of the Ministry of Commerce, he said his government has, in four years, taken steps to ease the process of doing business in India while maintaining macroeconomic indicators like the current account deficit within limits.

Gross domestic product growth touched 7.7 percent in the last quarter of 2017-18 fiscal but now, the time has come to look beyond 7-8 percent growth and target double-digit expansion, he said.

The world is watching as to when India will break into the $5 trillion economy club by doubling its economy, he added.

The government is also stressing on reducing dependence on imports in sectors like oil through domestic manufacturing.

Listing out achievements of his government, Modi said the country has moved away from a culture of delaying work through 'atkana, latkana and bhatkana' (obstructing, delaying and misguiding).

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which replaced over a dozen indirect taxes from July 1 last year, has led to not just ease of doing business but also rise in tax base, the prime minister said.

Modi said 54 lakh new taxpayers have sought registration under the new regime, taking the number of indirect tax payers to over one crore, compared to 60 lakh indirect tax payers in the pre-GST era.

Foreign direct investment inflows as well as foreign exchange reserves are at record highs, he added.