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New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said India is poised to become $5 trillion economy soon from $2.5 trillion now.
"We are now a $ 2.5 trillion economy, and we are firmly on path to achieve 8 per cent plus growth soon," Jaitley said while delivering his Union Budget 2018-19 speech here. "From ease of doing business, our govt has moved to ease of living for the poor and middle class," he said. "We hope to grow at 7.2% to 7.5% in the second half of 2017-18," he added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's today delivered his fifth and last full Budget amid subdued economic growth, challenging fiscal situation and farm distress.
What makes it all the more important is the upcoming elections in eight states this year and the Lok Sabha election next year, all of which put tough demands on him.
Cryptocurrency market
In a move to regulate the cryptocurrency market in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today cleared that it is not legal tender and it will discourage its use.
However, he mentioned that the government will look at the utilisation of blockchain technology.
During the run-up to the budget, there have been talks that the government could come out with a roadmap to regulate the cryptocurrency market. There has been rising craze among investors to put in their hard-earned money into the highly volatile cryptocurrency market setting off alarm bells in the government.
