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As the curtains come down to the calendar year 2024, Uday Kotak, Founder and Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has listed ten-point priority areas for the overall growth of the Indian economy in the year that knocks our doors.
Taking to X, in his first point, Uday Kotak suggested that India must prioritise economic growth. "Go for growth. Let's get enterprise and animal spirits firing," the veteran banker wrote on his X timeline on Sunday. The Indian economy grew by 5.4 per cent in real terms in the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2024-25. The quarterly growth was quite lower than RBI's forecast of 7 per cent. In the April-June quarter too, India's GDP grew at a slower pace than was estimated by its central bank. Urban consumption had reportedly witnessed a slowdown as persistent inflation dampened the purchasing power of the urban poor. The veteran banker was also vocal against protectionism. "Shun protectionism," he wrote on X, arguing that protectionism may benefit in the short term but in the long term it makes the country's economy uncompetitive. Protectionism typically refers to government policies that restrict imports to help domestic industries Further, as part of his year-end musings, Uday Kotak said India needs a plan to eliminate the current account deficit in a reasonable time. He also called for increased investment in defence. "Power is power. Safety is prerequisite for prosperity," wrote Uday Kotak. India is investing heavily in defence and aerospace manufacturing, with defence hubs being set up. India's defence exports have touched a record Rs 21,083 crore (about USD 2.63 billion) in the financial year 2023-24, with a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore. The recent figures indicate that the defence exports have grown by 31 times in the last 10 years as compared to 2013-14. Further, Uday Kotak also called for continued fiscal consolidation. The government intends to bring the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of GDP by the financial year 2025-26. Presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday pegged the fiscal deficit target at 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). In the Interim Budget tabled on February 1, she pegged it at 5.1 per cent of GDP. In 2023-24, the government pegged the fiscal deficit target for 2023-24 at 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Later, the fiscal deficit for 2023-24 was downwardly revised to 5.8 per cent. The difference between total revenue and total expenditure of the government is termed the fiscal deficit. In another suggestion, he noted that India must avoid over-regulation and micro-management across sectors. He was also for free and fair markets. He said intervention must be made only if there is evidence of "bubbles or manipulation". In his last point, he called for less polluted Indian cities. "We must get out of having amongst the most polluted cities in the world. Let us walk the talk," Uday Kotak noted. (ANI)
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