Commerce minister to meet India Inc next week, discuss ways to spur growth

“The minister wants to reach out to the industry to know their concerns. Addressing the issues in a time-bound manner would be beneficial for promoting industrial growth, which has been witnessing a slowdown,” the official said.

Industrial growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has grown by a meagre 1.2 per cent in July, compared to 4.5 per cent growth in the same period a year ago. During April-July, IIP grew by 1.7 per cent, down from 6.5 per cent in the same period last year.

A slowdown in overall economy was also reflected in the GDP growth of the first quarter of this financial year. gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell to 5.7 per cent in April-June — the lowest in at least five quarters.

The lower-than-expected GDP growth followed large-scale destocking undertaken by manufacturers ahead of the goods and services tax rollout and the lingering impact of demonetisation. The GDP had recorded a growth of 7.9 per cent in April-June quarter last year.

The manufacturing sector has been the worst hit, with a GVA growth rate of 1.2 per cent in April-June as compared to a growth of 10.7 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Over the last week, the government has been discussing strategies to support economic growth. Prabhu has also been part of deliberations held by finance minister Arun Jaitley along with railway minister Piyush Goyal and NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar to discuss the economic situation.

On Wednesday, Prabhu had said that he is closely working with the finance ministry and Niti Aayog for resolving exporters’ issues to boost shipments and generate jobs. Prabhu said that ensuring growth of exports is the priority of the commerce ministry.