Growth in agriculture and infrastructure are key to the
country attaining a growth of eight to nine per cent in the next three years,
according to India’s top economist.
Speaking during the Chamber Day Celebrations of Hindustan
Chamber of Commerce here on Friday, C Rangarajan, chairman of economic advisory
council to Prime Minister, said that only if the agriculture grows at four per
cent per annum and infrastructure is developed then the growth of eight to nine
per cent is possible.
“If we want to bring in significant change in the living
standards of population, it can be done through increasing the productivity of
agriculture,” said Rangarajan.
He also highlighted that the share of agriculture in the
economy has come down from significantly and attributed it to the lack of land,
rapid urbanization and demands of industrialization.
The land for agriculture may have come down but there is a
need for innovation to boost agriculture growth, he added.
Interestingly, the former RBI governor also highlighted the
need to tame food inflation. He said the 2010-11 food inflation was not due to
the shortage of food grains but was due to 67 per cent rise in prices of
vegetables.
Rangarajan said that that gold imports rose in 2011-12 due
to inflation. “We had imported 900 tonnes of gold worth $60 billion when the
inflation was high and people thought it was the hedge against inflation,” he
said.
He said the prices of gold would come down if inflation
comes down. The former RBI governor also said steps are being taken by the
government to bring down gold imports.
He said if India grows by eight to nine per cent then only
it can graduate into a middle income economy. He also said current growth of
six per cent is a good growth when compared to the global ecomnomy.
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