The strong recovery of Indian economy in the last nine months by successfully overcoming global meltdown is a proof of the country's power of resilience, Saumitra Chaudhuri, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, has said.
“Based on this strong recovery, our assessment is that the Indian economy's growth rate will be at 8.5 per cent for 2010-11,” Dr. Chaudhuri, who is also a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said here on Saturday.
He was in the city to participate in the 24{+t}{+h} Convocation of Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM) and present degrees/medals to students. According to him, the growth rate projection for 2011-12 is 9 percent.
Addressing the fresh graduates, the Planning Commission Member said that Indian economy is looking bright and a lot of transformation took place in manufacturing sector, Information Technology, IT-enabled services, financial/banking systems and capital markets.
“The 13th Finance Commission report submitted recently has provided a roadmap for fiscal consolidation in Centre and State level. The attitude towards public finance, fiscal responsibility and budget management legislations had changed,” Dr. Chaudhuri observed. Stating that there has been a sea change in Government policy formulation, he said that it is now adaptive and focused towards meeting the current requirements.
“The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is now at 1.5 Trillion US Dollars. In the year 2000, it was only 467 Million US Dollars,” he informed.
According to Dr. Chaudhuri, there is a possibility that the prominence of Western economies “is likely to come to an end” in one or two decades and there are chances that India could be among the economies that will have a powerful say. He said that the confidence level of people had increased in India and the consumers were empowered due to rising incomes and new jobs.
Manickam Ramaswami, Chairman, Board of Governors, Thiagarajar School of Management, in his welcome address, said that the bad period for Indian economy lasted only for a short while and India looks poised for great times ahead.
“The fear of failure should not be an inhibiting factor for youngsters. You must try to have entrepreneurial spark and become entrepreneurs after learning for sometime in the current job,” Mr. Ramaswami advised the graduates.
M.R.G. Appa Rao, Director, TSM, presented the annual report and informed that the institution is in talks with Dhan Foundation to undertake projects in developmental sector. Around 2,500 India Post employees were trained by TSM during the year.
B.T. Bangera and Joseph Zachariah, both Members on the Board of Governors, TSM, were among those present at the convocation function.
