INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Government borrowing has ballooned due to pandemic spending while revenues have severely dampened.India's path to economic recovery will be
stronger than previously thought as fiscal expansion and vaccine hopes help the country heal from Covid-19, a Reuters poll of economists
showed.The world's second-most populous country has begun a huge vaccination drive and a steep fall in new coronavirus cases over the past
few months is supporting a recovery in Asia's third-largest economy.Alongside that, nearly 60 per cent of respondents, 18 of 31, who
responded to an additional question in the January 13-25 poll said India's Union budget, due on February 1, would help a significant
6.0 per cent in fiscal year 2022/23
The poll predicted the economy would grow 21.1 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 5.9 per cent and 5.5 per cent in each quarter of the 2021/22 fiscal
year, largely upgraded from a poll taken two months ago.But when asked how long it would take for the economy to recover to its pre-Covid-19
level, 26 of 32 respondents said it would take up to two years, including six analysts said longer than that
slashed its main repo rate by 115 basis points since March 2020 to cushion the shock from the coronavirus crisis, was expected to keep its
benchmark lending rate at 4.0 per cent through at least 2023.That was a shift in expectations from a survey taken two months back when a 25
basis point cut to 3.75 per cent was predicted in the April-June period.Will Borrow MoreThe Union government will focus on fiscal expansion
in next week's budget and revise its borrowing target higher for the 2021/22 fiscal year, prompted by the expected economic slowdown and
weak jobs growth, according to the latest poll.Government borrowing has ballooned due to pandemic spending while revenues have severely
dampened.The median forecast showed the government would revise its fiscal deficit target for next fiscal year up to 5.5 per cent from 3.3
per cent of gross domestic product.Around 55 per cent of economists, 18 of 33, who answered an additional question about the focus of the
