NITI Aayog meeting updates: Modi's meet with top economists begins; Arvind Subramanian says India's growth is reviving

Experts hail Narendra Modi’s model of ‘aspirational districts’

Experts hail @PMOIndia & NITI's model of #AspirationalDistricts: 115 Districts chosen to be transformed, 48 indicators selected, portal being created & Districts to be ranked #CompetitiveFederalism #TransformingIndia

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

India’s start-up movement among issues being discussed on Wednesday

#EconomicPolicyRoadAhead: Sectoral experts discuss India's success in Ease of Doing Business, huge start up movement, FDI inflows & NITI Aayog's #CooperativeCompetitiveFederalism #NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat pic.twitter.com/iuGcj3N9s0

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

Visuals of the ongoing meeting

#EconomicPolicyRoadAhead: Economists & GoI Secretaries discuss India's success in behaviour change communication for #SwachhBharat, Digital India & ODF Initiatives #NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat pic.twitter.com/CRAPBiVu1o

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

Experts discuss twin balance sheets, recapitalisation of banks, power discom reforms, bond markets, human capital investments and strategic disinvestments

Leading economists & subject experts discuss twin balance sheets, recapitalisation of banks, power discom reforms, bond markets, human capital investments & strategic disinvestments #EconomicPolicyRoadAhead #NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat pic.twitter.com/LRx2ZbKKPY

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

Private investment is expected to revive in India: World Bank

The World Bank report said that private investment is expected to revive in India “as the corporate sector adjusts to the GST; infrastructure spending increases, partly to improve public services and Internet connectivity; and private sector balance sheet weaknesses are mitigated with the help of the efforts of the government and the Reserve Bank of India.”

The government’s recent recapitalisation package for public sector banks could “resolve banking sector balance sheets, support credit to the private sector, and lift investment,” the report added.

Meeting to focus on six broad issues

Wednesday’s discussion will focus on six broad themes of macro-economic balances, agriculture and rural development, urban development, infrastructure and connectivity, employment, manufacturing and exports and health and education

IMF forecasts growth estimate of 7.4 percent for 2018

The World Bank estimate is in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) projection of 6.7 percent for 2017. The IMF, however, forecast a slightly higher growth estimate of 7.4 percent for 2018.

India projects GDP growth of 6.5 percent

India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reported last week that it estimated the GDP to grow by only 6.5 percent in 2017-18 compared to 7.1 percent in 2016-17

Meeting underway

India's Growth is Reviving: Chief Economic Advisor @arvindsubraman discusses the challenges & development goals of the #EconomicPolicyRoadAhead #NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat pic.twitter.com/rrDEApMrWa

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

Government must try its best to stick to the 3.2 percent fiscal deficit target: Arvind Panagariya

‘The Govt must try its best to stick to the 3.2% fiscal deficit target,’ says Former @NITIAayog Chairman @APanagariya #CountdownToBudget pic.twitter.com/31bttPZ7jv

— CNBC-TV18 News (@CNBCTV18News) January 10, 2018

2018 will be a strong year for global economy: World Bank

A World Bank report said, “2018 is on track to be the first year since the financial crisis that the global economy will be operating at or near full capacity.”

The report forecast the global growth rate to edge up to 3.1 percent in 2018 after “a much stronger-than-expected” 2017 growth of three percent in 2017.

“The broad-based recovery in global growth is encouraging, but this is no time for complacency,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. 

“This is a great opportunity to invest in human and physical capital.”

Day-long discussions with government secretaries and top economists begins

NITI Aayog VC Dr. @RajivKumar1 welcomes the Secretaries of GoI & leading Economists/Experts to NITI Aayog for the day-long discussions on #EconomicPolicyRoadAhead. #NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat pic.twitter.com/gcCqHWNNW9

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

NITI Aayog to lead task force studying feasibility of producing methanol from coal

On Monday, the government has constituted a task force to study the feasibility of producing methanol from coal, and using coal gas as a replacement of natural gas in steel production.

The development assumes significance as the country is aiming to achieve crude steel capacity of 300 million tonnes (MT), which will require extensive mobilisation of natural resources, among others.

The 15-member task force under the chairmanship of Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat has secretaries of coal and steel ministries.

Inputs from PTI

GST will help fiscal sustainability: World Bank

“Over the medium term, the GST is expected to benefit economic activity and fiscal sustainability by reducing the cost of complying with multiple state tax systems, drawing informal activity into the formal sector, and expanding the tax base,” a World Bank report said.

World Bank saw benefits down the road from GST

The World Bank report dropped the growth estimate for 2017-18 by 0.1 per cent from its projection June 2017, because of the disruptions to the economy from the Goods and Services Tax (GST). But it raised the growth forecast for 2018-19 by 0.1 percent from the June figure.

The Bank forecast GDP growth of 7.5 percent in 2019-20 and 2020-21. The World Bank saw benefits down the road from GST.

World Bank estimates Indian economy will grow by 6.7 percent

Meanwhile, the World Bank has estimated India’s economy to grow by 6.7 percent during the current fiscal year, higher than the 6.5 percent estimate by the Indian government.

The GDP growth is expected to rise to 7.3 percent in 2018-19, making India again the world’s fastest growing economy, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report released on Tuesday.

PM @narendramodi to interact with leading economists & sector experts today at NITI Aayog. Discussions will focus on 6 themes.#NayiNITINayiDishaNayaBharat #EconomicPolicyRoadAhead @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia @RajivKumar1 @amitabhk87 pic.twitter.com/xLHfXSP2DQ

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) January 10, 2018

Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari among others who will be present at the meeting

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Ganga Water Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of State- Planning Rao Inderjit Singh along with the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, members and CEO NITI Aayog, along with senior officials from the government will attend the meeting.

Meeting to emphasise on road ahead for economic policy

Reports said that the emphasis of the meeting will likely be on sharing the views of the experts from all over the country on the road ahead for the economic policy to steer the nation towards a New India envisioned by Narendra Modi.

Modi to chair crucial meet today

An official statement released by the government on Tuesday said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with leading economists and the experts across sectors from all over the country at NITI Aayog on Wednesday.