$5 trillion economy in mind, PM Modi set to begin 2020 with review of ministries’ 5-yr plans

Narendra Modi is set to hold meeting on 3-4 January to take stock of the 5-year vision documents prepared by his ministries to boost economic growth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to kick-start the new year with an emphasis on boosting economic growth and achieving his target of making India a $5-trillion economy by 2024.

On 3-4 January, sources in the government said, Modi is set to hold a two-day meeting of the ten sectoral groups of secretaries, formed in 2016, to take stock of all the five-year vision documents prepared by ministries after the government came to power last year.

Different ministries, departments and the sectoral groups have been preparing their five-year visions for the last few months, and would be making presentations to the PM and senior ministers in his council for their approval, the sources familiar with the planned meeting told ThePrint.

At a time when the economic growth has fallen to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar is expected to make a presentation to the PM on behalf of the finance and corporate affairs sectoral group.

Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman to attend meeting

Some of the ideas to be discussed in the meeting and mentioned in the vision documents might be reflected in the next Budget, said an official, who did not wish to be named.

The PM is also expected to take stock of some of the recent government decisions to spur economic growth, such as corporate tax rate cut and recapitalisation of state-run banks.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, among others, are expected to attend the two-day meeting.

Sectoral groups were first formed by the Modi government in 2016 and were reconstituted when it came back to power in May last year. Their mandate is to come up with ‘transformative ideas’ for the next five years for each ministry and department.

The latest move comes after PM Modi conducted a series of meetings in December in which top officials and ministers of the government discussed key issues such as ways to boost private investment, allowing banks to lend more freely, the agrarian crisis, losses suffered by Air India, among others.