PM Modi to interact with economists, domain experts

New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with leading economists and experts on Saturday to deliberate on economic policy roadmap for jacking up investment, growth and employment generation.

Officials at NITI Aayog, who have been working on the preparation for the meeting, told The Tribune that they are expecting leading economists, sectoral experts and industrialists to participate in it besides officials of various ministries.

The meeting assumes significance as it comes ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget in Lok Sabha on July 5 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showing that the economic growth slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018-19, pushing India behind China, due to poor showing by agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

It had also shown that joblessness was at a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18.

According to the CSO data, the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for fiscal 2018-19 (at 2011-12 prices) was at a five-year low of 6.8 per cent. The GDP growth was 7.2 per cent in 2017-18.

As per the plan, officials said, first, all invitees will attend a round-table meeting with Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar.

Subsequently, small groups on basis of sectors will be formed who will put forward ideas which will be compiled into presentations. Later in the evening, these presentations will be shown to the prime minister, they said.

Through the exercise, experts are asked to identify constraints on growth acceleration and employment generation across sectors and come up with measures that would propel the economy on a high and sustained growth trajectory, the officials said.

Earlier on June 15, the prime minister had chaired the fifth meeting of the Niti Aayog’s Governing Council.

He had then asked turning India into a $5-trillion economy by 2024, which he had claimed “challenging, but achievable” and exhorted states to play a key role.