New Delhi: The state of the economy is deeply worrying, said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, adding that last quarter’s GDP growth rate of 5 per cent signals that “we are in the midst of a prolonged slowdown”.
In a video statement issued on Sunday, Singh said, “India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate but all-round mismanagement by the Narendra Modi government has resulted in this slow down. It is particularly distressing that the manufacturing sector’s growth is tottering at 0.6 per cent. This makes it very clear that our economy has not yet recovered from the manmade blunders of demonetisation and a hastily implemented GST.”
India’s economy grew at its slowest pace in over six years in the June quarter following a sharp deceleration in consumer demand and tepid investment.
According to data released by the government on Friday, India's quarterly GDP has come down to 5 per cent as compared to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the financial year. The figure stood at 7.8 per cent in the same quarter of the previous financial year.
Manufacturing sector and private consumption are being blamed for the slump.
Singh pointed out that that India’s domestic demand is depressed and consumption growth is at an 18-month low. “Nominal GDP growth is at a 15-year low. There is a gaping hole in tax revenues. Tax buoyancy remains elusive as businessmen, small and big, are hounded and tax terrorism continues unabated. Investor sentiments are in doldrums. These are not the foundations for economic recovery,” he said
“The Modi government’s policies are resulting in massive job-less growth. More than 3.5 lakh jobs have been lost in the automobile sector alone. There will similarly be large scale job losses in the informal sector, hurting our most vulnerable workers. Rural India is in terrible shape. Farmers are not receiving adequate prices and rural incomes have declined. The low inflation rate that the Modi government likes to showcase comes at the cost of our farmers and their incomes, by inflicting misery on over 50 per cent of India’s population,” said the former PM.
Singh also claimed that “institutions are under attack” and their autonomy is being eroded. “The resilience of the RBI will be tested after its record transfer of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the government, which claims that it does not have a plan on what it will do with this windfall,” he said/
In addition, the former Prime Minister said, the credibility of India’s data has come under question under the Modi government. “Budget announcements and rollbacks have shaken the confidence of international investors. India has not been able to increase its exports to take advantage of opportunities that have arisen in global trade due to geopolitical realignments. Such is the state of economic management under the Modi government.”
India’s youth, farmers and farm workers, entrepreneurs and the marginalised sections deserve better, Singh said, urging the government to “put aside vendetta politics”, and reach out to all sane voices and thinking minds, “to steer our economy out of this man-made crisis”.
Comments
0 comment