Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India will be back on the track of economic growth after the lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic is over. He added that the task to boost and stabilise the economy must continue along with the fight against the health crisis.

“On the one hand we have to save the lives of our people and on the other hand we have to stabilise and speed up the economy,” the prime minister said in his speech to mark 125 years of the Confederation of Indian Industry. “In the present situation, you [the people and industry representatives] have started the conversation about ‘Getting Growth Back’. All of you deserve to be congratulated.”

The prime minister repeated that India will definitely begin growing again. “You might wonder how I am so confident of this... I have faith in India’s capability, talent and innovation and intellect,” Modi said. “I have confidence in our entrepreneurs and farmers.”

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Modi claimed India was moving towards economic recovery with ‘Unlock 1’. “The coronavirus pandemic may have slowed us down but the truth is that India is leaving the lockdown behind to enter the first phase of Unlock,” he said. “A major part of the economy has opened up in this phase.”

The prime minister added that strengthening the economy is his government’s top priority. “The government is making immediate decisions to rebuild the economy,” Modi said. “We are also implementing decisions that will benefit the country in the long run.”

Modi again emphasised on the government’s goal to make India self-reliant and listed five ways to achieve it. “We need Intent, Inclusion, Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation to put India back on the path of speedy growth,” he said. “The bold decisions made by the government reflect these principles.”

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The prime minister assured the industry that getting back on the path of growth would not be very difficult. “The industries now have a clear path of follow, the path of self-reliance,” he said.

Modi said industries should now follow the mantra of ‘Made in India, made for the world’. “We have to see how we can reduce the country’s imports and what new goals can be set,” he said. “We have to set our targets to increase productivity in all sectors.”

The prime minister’s speech came a day after he chaired a Cabinet meeting to discuss the state of the economy. After the meeting, the Centre made several key announcements related to agriculture and businesses, including increase in the minimum support price of 14 crops and two packages to revive micro, small and medium enterprises, which have been severely hit by the coronavirus lockdown.

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Ten weeks of lockdown has gutted India’s economy. The country’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate stood at 3.1% for the fourth quarter of 2019-’20, according to data the government released on Friday. In the October to December 2019 quarter, the country’s economic growth stood at 4.7% – a seven-year low. However, the final figures released for the third quarter on Friday showed that India’s GDP grew at 4.1% during October to December last year.

Earlier this month, the Centre had announced a Rs 20-lakh-crore economic package to counter the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The government’s economic package consists of five portions, focusing on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector, alleviating the plight of migrant workers, improving agricultural infrastructure and allied industries, coal mining and defence manufacturing and allocations under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

India is now the seventh most-affected country by the coronavirus in the world. The country has so far reported 1,98,706 coronavirus cases and saw a daily jump of 8,171 new infections on Tuesday. The toll rose by 204 to 5,598.