India must strive for 8.5-9% growth, says Uday Kotak

Kotak said that it's time for the private sector to start spending.

Veteran banker and founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak, stated on December 2 that India must strive for 8.5 to 9 percent growth. "Looks like India is headed for a 6.5 percent GDP growth, and India must strive for 8.5-9% growth," Kotak said at CNBC-TV 18’s India Business Leader Awards (IBLA) in Mumbai.

India’s July-September 2023 GDP growth stood at 7.6 percent versus 6.2 percent in July-September 2022.

At 7.6 percent, the latest quarterly growth number is significantly higher than expectations. A poll conducted by Moneycontrol had shown economists expected GDP growth for the second quarter of 2023-24 to come in at 6.8 percent, with the highest forecast being Standard Chartered Bank's 7.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had forecast a growth rate of 6.5 percent.

The Indian economy had expanded by 7.8 percent in April-June and 6.2 percent in July-September 2022.

Also read: India Q2 GDP: July-September growth at 7.6%, sharply above forecasts

The sharply higher-than-expected growth rate in the last quarter was due to a jump in activity in the manufacturing and construction sectors. While the manufacturing sector's gross value added (GVA) grew by 13.9 percent year-on-year in July-September, up from 4.7 percent in April-June, the construction sector rose by 13.3 percent, up from 7.9 percent in April-June.