5.7 per cent growth is not a slowdown outside India, says EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker

The president of EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker today said that a growth rate of 5.7 per cent is termed as a major growth than what many in India are calling a slowdown. 

The statement comes as a breather to many who wants to see India as an economic powerhouse. Several financial institutions like the ADB, the World Bank (IBRD) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have pegged India's GDP growth rate to be at 5.7 per cent. 

The EU Commission and its leaders visited India and met Prime Minister (PM) Modi in New Delhi on Friday. India was represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The EU was represented by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. 

"The EU closely follows Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's economic reforms, including the historic introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which can facilitate ease of doing business and promotes market integration in India by realising a simple, efficient and nation-wide indirect tax system," said India EU Joint Statement issued during India- EU Summit.

Jean-Claude Juncker today expressed hope that talks on free trade agreement (FTA) between EU and India will move forward in the next few days.

In talks with @eucopresident & @JunckerEU we agreed to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, clean energy, climate change & other areas. pic.twitter.com/QOaBIrGsCx

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 6, 2017

"I believe today's summit has given a fresh impetus to our negotiations and I am confident our negotiations will establish the way forward in next coming days because your Trade Minister and my Trade Commissioners are meeting few days from now," he said while addressing India European Union Business Forum here.

"We want to conclude that (FTA) once the conditions aren right, when the circumstances are right. Once the circumstances are right, we will resume with good faith. I'm confident we can move forward," he said.