Indian economy to strengthen in future: Finance Minister

Buoyant over the improving macro-economic situation of the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asserted that Indian economy will strengthen in future on the back of recent measures taken by the government. The CAD will be brought down significantly to around $32 billion as compared to record high of $88.2 billion or 4.8% of GDP in FY13. Finance Minister added that CAD has not only been fully and safely financed but $ 28.5 billion has also been added to the reserves during the previous fiscal year. Chidambaram stated that India’s fiscal deficit will be contained within the target at 4.6% of GDP during FY14. Attributing the latest rally in capital market to improving domestic economy Finance Minister stressed that investors are becoming more confident about the stability and strength of India's economy. Regarding the tax collections, Chidambaram added that there has been shortfall in overall tax collection in the last fiscal. The government has collected about Rs 5,500 crore direct taxes more than the revised estimate of Rs 6,41,835 crore during FY14. However, there has been a shortfall of indirect tax of about Rs 17,000 crore due to less collection of Central Excise and Service Tax segments. Finance Minister further asserted that the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) has speeded up implementation of large infrastructure projects. So far, the CCI has considered 169 big infrastructure projects out of which 108 have cleared and fresh loans to the extent of Rs. 1,02,292 crore have been released to the project promoters.  The government expects Indian economic growth to improve around 5.5-6% in the FY15.