NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said India is sustaining its GDP growth momentum as the fastest-growing economy for the fourth year in a row, aided by manufacturing, services, and farm sectors.“India is sustaining growth and it is the fastest-growing economy now for the fourth year continuously, thanks to the work of small, medium, and large industries; industries which are coming in and making sure our manufacturing capacity, our service capacity are all intact. Agriculture has also sustained us even during Covid and subsequently,” Sitharaman said at the Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award.She drew comfort from the industrial growth numbers, pointing out that there were fears that inadequate investment in capacity addition would impact the economy. “I’m glad, India’s industry and the manufacturing activity have all been good during the fourth quarter,” FM said after data was released.Earlier, chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said the provisional estimates for FY25 were in line with the expectation of 6.5% growth, and India fared much better than contemporary economies at a time when expansion was difficult. “India’s growth is holding up in a growth-scarce environment,” he said.For the current financial year, govt has retained its outlook at 6.3-6.8%, with private consumption, especially the rural rebound, and resilient services exports as the key drivers, he said. “Food inflation remains benign due to good rabi harvest, higher summer sowing, healthy procurement, and above-normal monsoon. Exports remain robust, forex reserves provide 11 months of import cover. Declining crude oil prices will potentially lower import bills, create fiscal space, and alleviate external economic pressures,” he said in a presentation.Sitharaman said govt is constantly working to remove regulatory difficulties and bring soft-touch regulation, which will allow people to do business without suspicion. “We are at that part of India’s history where it just requires all of us to have confidence in our country’s abilities and belief that we can definitely deliver that goal… how long more are we going to say we are a developing country. When our own people are going all over the world and working at leadership levels in various sectors. It’s time for all of us to get out of the suspicion that we have in our minds, will India be able to do, will India be able to reach? Yes, we can,” the minister said.
