DNA Money Edit: Unanimous in India's growth predictions

With International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowering India's growth projection to 6.7%, half-a-percentage point less than its previous two forecasts in April and July, there seems to be unanimity in predictions. The IMF's move comes close on the heels of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cutting growth estimates last week by 60 basis points to 6.7%.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cut the projection for 2017-18 to 6.7% from 7.3% earlier, while Asian Development Bank and World Bank slashed their projections to 7%, from 7.4% and 7.2%, respectively. They have all blamed it squarely on the note ban and the rollout of goods and services tax (GST).

While India's growth projection was revised downwards, IMF has raised China's projection by a shade to 6.8% in 2017. Interestingly, if they stick to the projections for the next year, India will regain the tag of the fastest growing emerging economy in 2018 as China is projected to grow at a slow rate of 6.5% as against India's 7.4%.

There are some positive takeaways from IMF's latest World Economic Outlook report. It counts GST as a key structural reform that will help India push its growth above 8% in the medium term. What is more, simplifying and easing labour market regulations and land acquisition procedures currently underway are long-standing requirements for improving the business climate.