Participating in an event organised to mark the start of the golden jubilee year of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called demonetisation move a great success and hit out at critics who spoke of an economic slowdown.
"Some people enjoy spreading pessimism, they sleep well at night after that. For those people, a dip in growth for one quarter becomes doom. Is it the first time growth fell to 5.7%?" Mr. Modi asked.
"There were eight occasions under the previous government when the growth rate fell to 5.7% or lower."
There have been quarters when India's growth rate was 0.2% or 1%. That was even more dangerous as it came with higher inflation & deficits, he said.
Prime Minister also hit out at those who doubted official data. "When CSO showed 7.4% growth, the same people questioned it and said it doesn't feel like that in 'ground reality'. Over the last 2 quarters, when growth fell to 6.1% & 5.7%, these people started loving the data."
