Indian economy, which expanded at 7.7 per cent between 2003 and 2014 has the potential to clock 8 per cent growth in the near future, Planning Commission’s former deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said. He also said that for India to grow at 7.7-8 per cent, implementation of reforms like Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Bankruptcy law are necessary. “I would say post-1991 reform, from 2003-14, India grew at 7.7 per cent. That, I can guarantee, would not have happened if the 1991 reform had not been done. I think Indian economy has that potential to grow at 7.7 per cent if world economy in bad shape, if world economy does well then it has potential to grow at 8 per cent,” Ahluwalia said while addressing students of Shri Ram College. Indian economy grew at 7.3 per cent last fiscal and the mid-year economic analysis has forecast a GDP growth of 7-7.5 per cent in 2015-16.
He also noted that although the launch of 1991 economic reforms was a watershed moment, they had actually begun in mid-1980s. Regretting that reforms in taxation have been slower, the former director of IMF said that "in the last 25 years what we achieved we should have achieved in 10 years.”