CII new chief sees $40-trn Indian economy by 2047

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to raise benchmark interest rates and the likelihood of a good monsoon will help in containing inflation, Sanjiv Bajaj, the newly-elected president of industry body CII, said here on Monday.

"I do believe that we are now in an era of higher interest rates. This will help us in bringing down inflation, at least a part of that going forward," Bajaj said, addressing his maiden press conference after taking over as the CII chief. He said various factors combined with the hope of a strong monsoon should put us in a better place by the second half of the year for policymakers to decide where inflation and interest rates move. Bajaj observed that the rise of inflation has two aspects -- demand and supply side.

"RBI has already started the cycle of taking interest rates up and we should expect interest rates to continue moving up in the coming year. We would expect from RBI a clear direction to how they are going to address interest rates. Hopefully in the next monetary policy review we should be able to hear from them something to that extent," he said.

CII estimates India's GDP growth to be in the band of 7.4 - 8.2 per cent, depending upon the global oil prices. The industry body's theme for 2022-23 is Beyond India@75: Competitiveness, Growth, Sustainability, and Internationalisation. Sharing the likely growth scenarios for the Indian economy for this year, Bajaj, said, "CII expects the GDP growth in a range of 7.4-8.2 per cent in 2022-23, with the outlook critically hinging on the trajectory of global crude oil prices." He was addressing the media for the first time after taking over as president CII. He further explained, "global headwinds and inflation will have to be countered with robust policy reforms, both domestic and external sector reforms, to unlock the growth potential of the economy."

India will reach milestones of $5 trn by FY27 and $9 trn by FY31. The industry body's theme for 2022-23 is Beyond India@75: Competitiveness, Growth, Sustainability, and Internationalisation. Sharing the likely growth scenarios for the Indian economy for this year

- Sanjiv Bajaj