The Hub Policy: Operation Reboot

Sixteen CEOs and economists lay out a roadmap to revive the economy.

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OVER THE PAST five quarters, most economic indicators have been on a slide. In the first quarter of 2019/20, GDP growth slumped to a six-year low of 5 per cent. Private consumption decelerated to an 18-quarter low of 3.1 per cent in the June quarter. Then, the Reserve Bank of India trimmed the 2019/20 GDP growth projection from 6.9 per cent to 6.1 per cent. To provide a booster shot to the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a series of measures, including cutting the corporate tax rate to 22 per cent. Yet, sentiment is weak. Private investment has slowed considerably while exports are on a slow track. In the first half of 2019/20, exports, at $159.6 billion, were 2.4 per cent below the $163.5 billion achieved in the first half of 2018/19.

So what should the government do to revive growth? Sixteen CEOs and economists lay out the roadmap. Here’s what they prescribed.

Make Divestment Top Priority

ANIL AGARWAL , Chairman, Vedanta Resources

THE DIVESTMENT process should be top priority for the government in the absence of which the fiscal deficit is expected to widen in the next couple of quarters. The government must play its role as a facilitator and enabler of big-ticket projects to attract investment from private players. It is critical that a sector like mining is opened up for private investment so that India starts producing a lot of metals, minerals and oil, cut its import dependence, generate lakhs of jobs and create an ecosystem of ancillary industries.