In an attempt to assuage economy-related apprehensions, the Central government on Sunday said the slowdown in the Indian economy was only a "cyclical process" and its fundamentals continue to remain "strong"
Addressing a press conference on the completion of 100 days of Modi government's second tenure, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said India had, in 2018, received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) more than China.
"Let me make it very clear that sometimes slowdown is a cyclical process. But the fundamentals of Indian economy are so strong and they are not been disturbed. Actually, we have received record FDI more than China last year," Javadekar said, replying to a query.
Asked how the government would reach the $5 trillion-economy target in 2024 with the nominal increase in economic growth, the Minister said: "Our domestic economy is on a strong footing, and many new industries have come up because of new good governance model and rules which have been changed for foreign investments."
The Minister said the government is expecting that there will be more and more foreign investments and more and more domestic demand.
Dubbing the current economic condition a "patch", Javadekar said the slowdown will not hurt India's progress rate.
The Minister asserted that India's growth has been 7 per cent in the last five years and it would continue in future. "There is no situation to be panicky about. Our economy is strong."
Besides the economy, the minister said the biggest decisions made during the last 100 days included abrogation of Article 370 and 35A.
Besides, the amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act that paved the way for declaring Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, LeT's supreme commander of operations in Kashmir Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, all based in Pakistan, as terrorists.
Javadekar said the decisions were related to public welfare, public participation, against terrorism and other issues.
(With inputs from IANS)
