Mumbai: India's real GDP growth would have exceeded 8 per cent but for the external shocks of the last three years, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said on Tuesday, arguing that the economy's underlying strength now puts it within reach of that mark.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

Speaking at the annual Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit in Mumbai, Gupta underlined that India has grown at over 7 per cent in an “inconducive environment”. “If the global environment gets better, another 50 bps to 1 percentage point growth will come just from there,” she said.

Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine

8%Growth Gupta says India would already have hit without external shocks
7%+Actual growth in an 'inconducive environment'
7.1%RBI's official GDP projection for 2026-27
0.5–1 ppExtra growth a better global environment could add

“Just based on the strength of that work, we would have already been an 8 per cent growth economy,” Gupta, who handles the monetary policy department at the central bank, said. She recalled that India's growth acceleration journey began with the 1991 economic reforms, and credited years of work on strengthening systems, building digital infrastructure and making states important partners in growth.

Source: Times of India via 7Globe

The shocks that held growth back, she said, included high oil prices, deficient rainfall and El Nino over the last three years, with fuel prices and external finance remaining the main challenges. Acknowledging that driving growth is not easy, she said India must internalise several factors to accelerate further — learning from other countries, raising domestic investment and securing foreign direct investment.

Source: Newsplainly

Gupta's remarks were a view expressed at an industry event, not a new RBI forecast. The central bank's official projection, set by its Monetary Policy Committee earlier this month, puts India's GDP growth at 7.1 per cent for 2026-27.

Source: Newsplainly