Manmohan Singh says 'no hope' of reaching $5 trillion target by 2024

Manmohan Singh on Thursday opined that he does not think there is any hope of the Indian economy reaching the target of $5 trillion dollars by 2024, citing a decline in the growth rate "year after year." The former Prime Minister stated that the required growth rate to reach the said target is 10-12% per annum. 

"I have said this publicly before that to reach a goal of five trillion dollar by 2024, as against 2.7 trillion dollars that we had in 2018, would require a growth rate of 10-12 per cent per annum. What is happening in the BJP regime is that the government is faced with the prospect of a declining rate of growth year after year," Manmohan Singh said while addressing a press conference.

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"IMF (International Monetary Fund) has come with a statement that India's growth rate during the current fiscal year will be only 6.1 percent as against 7.3 percent mentioned some months ago. With growth rate declining year after year, I don't think there is any hope of economy reaching the target of 5 trillion dollars by 2024," he added.

Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister last month, stressed the need for adopting a ‘well-conceived’ economic strategy. Expressing his concern over the sluggish pace of growth in the Indian economy, increasing unemployment, poor investment, distressed farmers and crisis in the banking sector, he said that democracy is not 'inimical to development' but 'increases' growth.

"Presently our country seems to have slowed down somewhat. The rate of GDP is declining. The investment rate is stagnant. Farmers are in distress. The banking system is facing a crisis, and unemployment is going up. We need a well-conceived national strategy to make India a 5 trillion economy," the former Finance minister said. 

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BJP's rebuttal

Union Minister Prakash Javedkar dismissed Manmohan Singh's criticism of the current Indian economy is "deeply worrying", last month, after the former Finance Minister in a video posted on August 30, lambasted the BJP led government for "all-round mismanagement", which has led to this slowdown.

The BJP Minister said, "We do not subscribe to what Manmohan Singh has analysed. We are not only walking the talk. We had an economy that was 11th in the world. Now we are among the top 5 and marching towards third" 

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 (With PTI inputs)