Healthcare behemoth Apollo Group’s Shobhana Kamineni, has all her hopes set on the Indian economy and predicted a 10 per cent growth in GDP in three years on Thursday. Kamineni, Executive Vice-Chairperson of the Apollo Group, took charge as the President of the trade body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for 2017-18.

Kamineni, who is the first woman President of the association, said she expected GDP growth to touch 8 per cent in the on-going fiscal based on “normal monsoon, good global climate and strong macro-economic fundamentals of the country,” she said, while addressing media persons.

On her first day as the head of the trade association Kamineni also said that agricultural economy should be brought under the tax net. She said CII was “broadly in favour of widening the tax base” and felt that “non-farm rural income” and those where the income was over tax-limit.

The issue had recently raised a furore when Bibek Debroy, Member of the NITI Aayog, said farmers should be liable to pay taxes. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, was quick to deny any plans to bring agriculture under the tax net. A move to bring agricultural income, while economically sound, has political ramifications.

Kamineni, meanwhile, added that the reforms, such as the Goods and Services Tax, that is expected to be implemented in July, along with high investments in infrastructure projects and greater women participation in the workforce would be significant drivers of the economy.

“Our conservative forecast is that based on these projects, (such as Rs 30 lakh crore investment in Railways, 20,000 km highway construction, and Sagarmala port development) India’s GDP could increase by as much as 50 per cent over the next five years. Similar increases in job creation can also be expected,” Kamineni said.