India can look ahead to the next phase as pandemic recovery is complete, chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, who has authored the Economic Survey 2022-23, said at a media interaction. Edited excerpts:ON GROWTHRecovery of the economy is complete… Nonbanking and corporate sectors now have healthy balance sheets. Hence, we don’t have to speak of pandemic recovery anymore. We have to look ahead to the next phase. In order to make sure that we fully accommodate the downside risks, the band (for growth forecast) has been kept at 6.0-6.8% and the baseline number at 6.5%. This number is very much in line with what international organisations have predicted. We can strive for, be able to achieve 8% growth if several dimensions are addressed.ON GLOBAL HEADWINDSWe have many known unknowns as well as unknown unknowns … Definitely, geopolitical developments that further disrupt global trade or send commodity prices higher would be the primary headwinds to the economic growth conditions.We also do not know how the speed with which the global economy recovers will lead to the kinds of inflation pressures that we saw last year. China reopened rapidly, and as of now, the United States economy looks to avoid a fullfledged formal recession. This January we have already seen that the oil prices and industrial metal prices are higher than they were at the end of December. From the Indian standpoint, moderate to somewhat significant global economic slowdown will lead to a better outcome because it would lead to lower commodity prices and a cessation of interest rate tightening in the developed world and a weaker dollar.ON INFLATIONIf the global economy slows down as the International Monetary Fund and many people project, then commodity prices should retreat. In that case, many of the analysts in India are expecting a much lower wholesale price index in the next financial year. The baseline assumption is that inflation should not be as big a problem as it was in 2022 but we would concede the uncertainties still remain high. We expect inflation to remain well behaved in 2023-24 with upside risks.ON OIL PRICEIt is difficult to predict a number for the oil price. The RBI takes a number that is below $100 a barrel. We can live with that number and achieve the growth rate that we have projected in the survey. The uncertainties related to oil markets are tremendous. As long as the number is less than $100 a barrel, I think the real GDP growth projections will remain undisturbed.ON DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTUREThere is a lot of justified optimism on India about the public digital infrastructure. The initial phase of reforms started with identity and then financial inclusion through the Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile. It then moved on to Unified Payments Interface which allows payments as small as `2 through a QR code.These have set the stage for new-age reforms which is now going to make sure that neglected segments of society get a fair shot at accessing national and international markets, and getting funded by financial institutions. These digital developments allow all of them to leave a digital footprint which creates a credit history for them so that they are able to access finance and markets.It is my belief that India’s improved balance sheets, and the digital infrastructure together will add anywhere between 50 and 100 basis points to India’s potential GDP growth, which is what we were missing in the course of the second decade (2011-2020).ON RUPEEWe do not make forecasts about the rupee, nor do we comment on what the RBI should be doing. The rupee in general has done well vis-à-vis currencies in the emerging markets and the market expects that with global tightening, it will do better in 2023.ON IMPACT OF DEMONETISATIONThere are academic studies which showed that the impact, if anything, was fleeting and it had a positive contribution in terms of hastening the transition to digital economy and in terms of discouraging black money creation.ON LOGISTICS INFRASTRUCTUREThe length of national highways and cargo handling capacity of ports have grown by 80% or double in the last 10 years or so. On the softer policy side, there are public-private partnerships under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the National Monetisation Pipeline and the PM Gati Shakti. The underlying concept is to make sure that public investment projects get completed without cost and time overruns. Our export competitiveness is hampered by logistic costs constituting 14-15%. The goal is to halve it and bring it down to international levels and the National Logistics Policy will play an important part in that.ON TRANSPARENCYThe quality of public expenditure has gone up. The government has become more transparent with budget deficit numbers. There is increased transparency in public procurement. Various such dimensions have led to improved expenditure management.