Laid foundation for USD 5 trillion economy in budget: Minister

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre, in the Budget, has laid the foundation of increasing consumption while ensuring that the government's investment is deployed to build infrastructure leading to a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

She also pitched for rationalisation of GST rates once a year and not every three months as was the trend so far.

"I think we have laid the foundation for increasing consumption, ensuring that capital expenditure and government's investments will go towards spending on building of assets in infrastructure which should have cascading effects both in the short term and in the long term," Nirmala told.

"In order to address rural distress, 16 focused action points have been announced in the budget. So I expect all this will lead to a five trillion dollar economy."