Growth projection for India at 8% not our outlook, says IMF

IMF's take on India's GDP:  The growth projection for India to witness an 8 per cent growth as stated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director has been made in his personal capacity and does not reflect the official stand of the multilateral global body where he represents India, the IMF has said. 

Speaking with reporters in New York, an IMF spokesperson said the recent remarks of Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, about India's growth figures are not representative of the views of the IMF, the IMF spokesperson further added.

"The views conveyed ...by Mr. Subramanian were in his role as India's representative at the IMF," Julie Kozack, IMF spokesperson, told reporters here on Thursday.

The IMF spokesperson Kozack further added that KV Subramanian’s views were based on the basis of his role as India's representative at the global body. Kozack was responding to a question on recent remarks by Subramanian, in which he projected a growth rate of 8 per cent for India, which is different from the last growth rate projections by the IMF.

IMF distances from KV's comment  

Notably, during his media statements, especially during the recent Interim Union Budget 2024, Subramanian had expressed ambitious optimism over India’s growth to touch 8 per cent in FY25. 

Subramanian had also contested claims that India was losing its demographic dividend as the number of working group population was likely to reduce by 2036, as indicated by projection of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). 

In an exclusive interaction with Republic Business in February this year, Subramanian while sharing his post Interim Budget comments had said that China’s growth has been hit with a dwindling working population, as reflected in the recent employment data. 

“The bleak employment graph has created fiscal roadblocks for China,” Subramanian had added. “The demographic dividend benefit of India is here to continue. It is just a matter of policies leading to fiscal prudence,” Subramanian had further said. 

The former Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister had also stated that robust growth in India, was subject to the formation of right policies in the next 20 to 25 years. 

(With PTI inputs)