Economy Showed "Credible Signs" Of Growth In September Says Finance Ministry

On Saturday, the Finance Ministry said that the month of September has exhibited "credible signs" of economic growth towards normalcy.

The ministry said that it has taken several measures amid the COVID-19 crisis, pushing the fiscal stimulus and packages to boost the recovery process of the economy and address the concerns of all the stakeholders and the citizens.

"Earnest efforts made by the government in last few months during coronavirus period have now started showing the green shoots and the month of September has exhibited credible signs of economic growth towards normalcy," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry further said that to minimise COVID-19's impact on the economy and people's livelihood, the government is open to all possibilities and "the Finance Minister is not averse to taking any further measures to ameliorate suffering of people".

On the economy gaining "encouraging momentum," the ministry said that increased business activities are imparting positive recovery of the economy as is evident in the month of September when the GST collection with Rs 95,480 crore was up by 4 percent in the month (year-on-year).

It said rail freight revenue earnings were up by 13.5 percent, power consumption up by 4.2 percent, and rising tractor sales, healthy monsoons and other growth indicators like PMI manufacturing, the index of eight core industries, E-way bills, exports, kharif sowing, cargo traffic and passenger vehicle sales, etc., are showing credible upward movement.

"All this makes the ministry confident that its effort to mitigate impact of Covid-19 are on the right track towards faster recovery of economy to normalcy," the ministry added.