Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 27
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday put up a spirited defence of her handling of the country’s economy, comparing macro-economic indicators with past Congress governments, arguing that while growth may have slowed down, the economy would never slip into recession.
Opposition parties staged a walkout in the midst of Sitharaman’s reply to a short-duration discussion on the state of the economy in the Rajya Sabha, alleging she was merely reading out her Budget speech. Congress Deputy Leader in the House Anand Sharma, among others, said “wrong priorities” of the government, haphazard implementation of GST and “tax terror” had made the investors cagey.
The Opposition benches engaged in a verbal duel with Sitharaman. The BJP members rushed to her defence. With Sitharaman refusing to yield, the Opposition members staged a walkout. However, those from the BSP and Samajwadi Party stayed put.
The Finance Minister said direct tax and GST collections had seen an increase in the first seven months of the current fiscal as compared to the corresponding period last year. “Every step being taken is in the interest of the country... Growth may have come down, but it is not recession yet, it won’t be recession ever.” She then went on to compare the GDP growth during the Modi-led government since 2014 and that witnessed in the previous five years under UPA-II, saying inflation was below the targeted range, economic expansion was much better and so were other macro-economic indicators.
She said during the UPA rule from 2009-2014, food inflation was 11.2% of the GDP but was pegged at 3.4% during 2014-2019. FDI inflow growth that was $189.5 billion during the UPA rule had risen to $283.9 billion dollars under the
NDA government. Foreign exchange reserves during UPA was $304.2 billion. These had soared to $412. 9 during NDA.
India’s growth outlook has weakened sharply this year, with a crunch that started with the non-banking finance institutions spreading to retail businesses, car-makers, home sales and heavy industry. The economy expanded by 5% in April-June and the projections are that it may have slowed down further in the Q2.
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