Tokyo, June 1 Dedicating India’s 7.6 per cent growth in 2015-16 to the highest level of foreign investment, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said it is also noteworthy that such fast expansion has been achieved despite the gloom in the global economic environment.
“We have a good growth rate. It is a tribute to public spending in India and the confidence of foreign investors — their investments have been highest ever even in the slowdown years,” said Jaitley at the Institute for International Economic Studies, a research think tank here.
Foreign direct investment inflows into India touched a record level of $51 billion between April 2015 and February 2016, as per official data.
The finance minister also emphasised that the growth of 7.6 per cent in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) had been achieved despite the Indian economy “operating in an unsupportive global environment and on the back of two continuous weak monsoons.”
Looking forward, he said favourable monsoon this year may spur further growth, said Jaitley, who is on a six-day visit to Japan.
As per official data released on Tuesday, the Indian economy expanded even faster at 7.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2015-16 — which was also distinctly higher than the predictions by most stakeholders.
During his visit here, Jaitley met with a large number of Japanese investors to attract investments to India — including the top brass of Suzuki, SoftBank, Nikkei, Bank of Tokyo, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Mitsui, Hitachi and Marusan.
“We already have over a thousand Japanese companies which have invested in India. (Japanese) Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe seeks to double it.”