Panagariya expects economy to grow 8-10% for 15 years

Such a growth rate would exapnd the economy to $8 trillion from $2 trillion currently

National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Monday expected the economy to grow by 8-10 per cent in the next 15 years, which annually would make it turn into $8 trillion by then against $2 trillion at present. “I expect India’s economy to grow anywhere between eight and 10 per cent in the next 15 years,” he said, while delivering a lecture at an energy conference here.

He also said, “If the economy actually grows at 8-10 per cent in rupee terms, in dollar terms it would be about 11-12 per cent and that kind of growth will turn India into about an $8 trillion economy from the current $2 trillion.”

The Economic Survey has projected in the economy to grow 8-8.5 per cent in the current financial year. The Budget has assumed the economic expansion at 8.5 per cent for the year.

The NITI Aayog vice-chairman added that the country's economy grew eight per cent under the earlier National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime and that was sustained for a long duration.

However, it was only in the first year of the previous NDA government — 1999-00 and its past year — 2003-04 that the economy expanded by eight per cent. In other three years, the growth rate was in the range of 3.9-5.4 per cent.

Although the economy grew by nine per cent for three consecutive period from 2005-06 and it is anybody’s guess whether it was because of the previous NDA government’s policies or the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime’s.