High growth will need structural reforms

The time is ripe to focus on the structural issues, and not just on the short term movement of some indicators

The recent dip in gross domestic product (GDP) growth is being taken seriously in all quarters. The myth of a high-growth trajectory is being challenged. Policymakers, however, are attributing this fall to demonetisation and the goods and services tax (GST), and reluctantly, a few to decline of exports. They predict that the growth will pick up next quarter to over 7 per cent without any basis, since mathematical modelling and forecasting tools have long been abandoned by the government. Also, over 8 per cent growth has only been achieved during the short 2003-2007 period, when the world economy was buoyant,