New Delhi: Industry chambers Thursday termed the 7% GDP growth for 2019-20 pegged by the Economic Survey a 'pragmatic target' that pointed towards a cautious optimism about the economy on the back of investment revival and rural consumption.
CII, FICCI and Assocham said in order to clock 8% growth to achieve the objective of becoming a USD 5-trillion economy by 2024-25, concerted effort is required to drive private investment, enhance consumption and address difficult issues like liquidity concerns of NBFCs.
"The 7% growth pegged by the Economic Survey for 2019-20 is a pragmatic target and with the right policy levers in place, we can step up growth to sustain an average growth rate of 8% over the next five years," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said in a statement.
He also agreed with the Survey's key prognosis that for sustaining growth at 8%, investment would need to be the key driver for heralding simultaneous growth in demand, jobs, exports and productivity.
"Concerted effort is required to drive an improvement in private investment along with robust consumption to lift growth in the current fiscal from a multi-year low of 6.8% posted in 2018-19," Banerjee said.
FICCI President Sandip Somany said although 7% is amongst the highest in world, yet it is lower than the desired growth of 8% plus required for achieving the goal of $5 trillion economy.
"Strengthening investment cycle has to be the topmost priority and we hope that the Union Budget will provide specific measures to boost investment, consumption and savings rate in the economy," he added.
