WASHINGTON: At a time when there is a scare of global slowdown owing to rising inflation and supply-chain crisis, India is relatively better placed, with the International Monetary Fund lauding its growth story. Praising Indian economy’s resilience, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, said, “India deserves to be called a bright spot on this otherwise dark horizon because it has been a fast-growing economy, even during these difficult times.”
The series of structural reforms, especially “digitalisation and digital access” undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government has helped the country withstand the financial storms brewed by Russia-Ukraine war, post Covid-19 economic fallouts and supply-chain disruptions. “Most importantly, this growth is underpinned by structural reforms,” Georgieva said on October 13, on the sidelines of annual meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington DC. India’s success in social welfare schemes, like direct cash transfer scheme and other programmes, were also lauded as “logistical marvel” by Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF. “From India, there is a lot to learn.
Kristalina Georgieva IMF Managing Director
There is a lot to learn from some other examples around the world. We have examples from pretty much every continent and every level of income. If I look at the case of India, it is actually quite impressive,” he said during a press interaction a day earlier. As per the Government data, more than Rs 24.8 lakh crore has been transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode since 2013, Rs 6.3 lakh crore in the financial year 2021-22 alone; on an average over 90 lakh DBT payments are processed daily as per the data of FY22.
