New Delhi: FInance Minister Arun Jaitley believes that slowdown in growth rate has bottomed out and the economy will do better because of falling inflation and favourable trends in the world economy, such as low oil prices.
"Emerging trends indicate the growth deceleration in India has bottomed-out," he said at a pre-budget meeting. The finance minister will present the union budget in February.
The significant downward trend in inflation has also been recorded in the second and third quarters of 2014-15 and the external environment has also largely turned in India's favour, said an official release. Against this backdrop, Jaitley said, "domestic policies to achieve macro-economic balance and the on-going process of economic reforms would lend further strength to the recovery of the economy".
India's GDP growth, which had fallen under 5 per cent, is expected to be between 5.4 per cent and 5.9 per cent this fiscal. Falling crude oil prices in the international market have come as a breather for the government which is faced with a daunting task of restricting fiscal deficit to 4.1 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal.