File photo of President Pranab Mukherjee.
Asserting that the Indian economy has shown resilience in the face of challenging global trends, President Pranab Mukherjee has said that it has the potential to attain a size of US $10 trillion over the next two decades.
Inaugurating the 35th India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2015 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, he said that there was a need to provide impetus to domestic manufacturing, and 'Make in India' campaign along with focus on Asia, Africa and Latin America as newer export markets will help sustain the challenges from the external sector.
"We are a US $2.1 trillion economy and have the potential to be a USD 10 trillion economy over the next two decades provided we are able to give fillip to manufacturing and innovation," President Mukherjee said.
"Our economy has admittedly withstood the challenging global economic scenario of the past few years. Despite the economic slowdown afflicting major economies in the world, India has remained largely insulated," he said.
Barring a below 5 per cent growth in one year(2012-13), India's economy has shown resilience, the President said.
President Mukherjee said that the economic scenario is again looking up, with 7.2 per cent economic growth in 2014-15.
"It is expected to improve further as other macro economic indicators show substantial improvement," he said.
Inflation is within control and industrial performance is also showing signs of revival, he said adding fiscal consolidation measures are in place and India should be able to meet the target of three per cent fiscal deficit by 2017-18.
"The external sector should not be a cause of concern despite a not so encouraging export performance last year. Slowdown in global economic activity also finds reflection in declining import with a substantial reduction in our import dependence on oil," President Mukherjee said.
India's current account deficit (CAD) has improved and has reduced from 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-14 to 1.4 per cent of GDP in 2014-15.