New Delhi: Ahead of GDP numbers to be released later in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the economic growth in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal will be relatively flat.
"Growth has slowed in recent quarters. I expect growth in the first quarter of 2013-14 to be relatively flat, but as the effects of good monsoon kicks in, I expect it to pick up," he said while making a statement on the state of the economy in Parliament.
The economic growth slowed to a decade low of 5 per cent in the 2012-13 fiscal. The government expects the economy to growth at around 6 per cent in the current fiscal. The GDP figures for first quarter are scheduled to be released at 5.30pm on Friday. The growth in the first quarter of last fiscal was at 5.5 per cent.
In order to boost growth, the government has taken a number of initiatives including setting up of Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) for reviving stalled projects. Since January 1, the CCI has cleared projects worth over Rs three lakh crore this year.
"The decisions of the CCI in reviving stalled projects will start bearing fruit in the second half of the year. Exports are also starting to look up as the rest of the world is improving its growth. So I believe, growth will pick up in the second half of fiscal year barring extreme unforeseen eventualities," he said.
Listing out the growth friendly measures -- fuel subsidy reform, liberalizing FDI norms in various sectors, and resolution of some tax issues of concerns to industry-- taken by government in last six months, Singh said the effects of these will come into play over the year resulting in higher growth, particularly in manufacturing.
After growing at over 8 per cent for two consecutive years, the growth slowed to 6.2 per cent in 2011-12 and further to 5 per cent last year on account of poor performance of farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.
