As per media reports, the fiscal deficit is estimated at 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the current financial year ending on 31 March 2022. Official data from the government indicates that India's GDP growth stood at 8.4 per cent in Q2 of 2021-22; this could point to the fact that the economy has gained momentum and even surpassed the pre-Covid level.
The GDP numbers look encouraging and many factors could be responsible for it. Perhaps it could be attributed to the large community of citizens (117 crore, or 1.17 billion) who have been vaccinated. Infrastructure investments may also have contributed: the government has rolled out the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to boost the manufacturing industry. PLI schemes are also a means of promoting the government's Make in India vision. To that effect, the manufacturing sector grew 5.5 per cent in the second quarter, while the construction industry grew 7.5 per cent. Further...