India to clock 7% growth in FY25 despite headwinds: Deloitte

PTI, Sep 22, 2024, 6:22 PM IST

India continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy global outlook and the country could clock a 7 per cent growth in the current fiscal despite the headwinds, Deloitte South Asia CEO Romal Shetty has said.

Shetty, who is the youngest chief executive of a Big Four accounting and consultancy firm in India, said inflation is reasonably under control, there has been a pick-up in rural demand and vehicle sales are improving.

“We believe that we would be in the 7-7.1 per cent range in terms of the growth (this fiscal year). You have got the headwinds, the tailwinds… But the fact is, still India is in a better position, in spite of whatever is happening globally but we can’t say we’re decoupled from the world,” he said, adding that the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East and Ukraine and the slowdown in the western world will impact GDP growth.

According to Deloitte projections, growth is likely to be 6.7 per cent in the next fiscal year (2025-26). The Indian economy grew 8.2 per cent in the previous fiscal year — 2023-24.

In an interview with PTI, Shetty said he expects the Modi 3.0 government to continue with the economic reforms, including privatisation, at the same pace and there is a tremendous push to get things done within the government departments.

India — the world’s fifth largest economy — is set to expand to USD 5 trillion and become the third largest within this decade.

Oil price decline is in some sense good for India because the country is a net importer of a lot of things, and the US Fed rate cut will be positive for India.

Observing that India will be the services capital of the world, Shetty said the country has to focus on using technology in agriculture to increase productivity and also look for niche areas where India can dominate globally.

To a question on whether India can achieve the developed nation tag by 2047, Shetty said the per capita income has to increase from USD 2,500 currently to USD 20,000. If the per capita income rises above a certain level, then the economy also grows at a faster pace from there.

“My own belief is that when the per capita income moves to USD 5,000, you will see much more buying happening. So the shape of the economy, the domestic economy itself, will also change. It becomes more self-reliant as well…,” Shetty said.