Among Top 10 Economies, India, Japan Growing Above Pre-Covid Level: Report

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in a report said that among the top ten economies, India and Japan are consistently growing above the pre-pandemic level.

In 2023, economies including the United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy and Brazil, will perform below their GDP growth rates of the pre-pandemic level of 2019. 

Talking about global economic growth, the report mentioned the worrying signs and stated a total of 94 economies growing below pre–pandemic level.

The analysis by PHD Research Bureau also mentioned that world economic growth had recovered sharply in 2021 at 5.9 per cent from a significant deceleration of (-) 3.2 per cent in 2020, however, it again decelerated to 2.9 per cent in 2022.

Notably, global economic growth is projected to decelerate further at 1.7 per cent in 2023.

"The recovery process of many of the economies has been impacted by the pandemic, the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine, skyrocketed commodity prices, high inflation trajectory and synchronised moves by the central banks in increasing the interest rates," said Saket Dalmia, President, PHDCCI.

"India is a bright spot in the global ecosystem recovered significantly from (-) 6.6 per cent GDP growth in 2020-21 to 8.7 per cent in 2021-22 and 6.8% in 2022-23 with a projected growth rate of 6 to 6.8 per cent in FY 2023-24," stated Dalmia. 

According to IMF data, India`s growth trajectory is significantly strong as economic growth will be above 7 per cent in 2021-2025. China will be growing much below 5 per cent as compared with India’s growth rate of 7% during 2021-2025.

Interestingly, India grew at 5.6 per cent during the last ten years period from 2013-2022.               

The report also added that despite the several shocks, 68 economies such as India, Japan, South Africa, Norway, Mexico, Argentina, Greece, Kuwait, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia among others are growing consistently above the pre-pandemic level of 2019 in the post-pandemic period. 

"Going ahead, continued economic reforms in India would further strengthen the economic fundamentals of the country to maintain a steady economic growth trajectory," mentioned Dalmia. 

"Strengthening India’s connectivity with Global Value Chains (GVCs) will help to improve supply-side bottlenecks and reduce costs of doing business, said Dalmia. 

He added that the enhanced competitiveness of the Indian economy will attract more and more investments and help to create more employment opportunities for the growing young population, said Mr Dalmia. 

However, the industry needs a great hand-holding in such a difficult environment caused by global economic uncertainties and volatile inflationary conditions. 

"We need to focus more on the manufacturing sector as the high cost of borrowings and high prices of raw materials have impacted the price–cost margins of the producers. Reduced cost of doing business such as easier compliances and a robust single window system will enhance ease of doing business in the country, explained Dalmia.