Stating that he was aware of the current discussions around the state of the country’s economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India had seen such ups and downs in the past as well and had the ability to emerge stronger from the current state of affairs. “Such up and downs have come in the country’s economy before as well. But the country has the ability that every time it has come out of such a situation and come out stronger than before. Therefore, India will definitely come out from the present situation,” the Prime Minister said.
Speaking at an Assocham event, Mr. Modi said, “I am well aware of the discussions that are taking place today about the economy, but in the midst of those discussions, we must also remember that during the earlier government, the GDP growth rate had touched 3.5% in a quarter.”
He added that under the previous government, headline CPI was hovering at 9.4%, core inflation at 7.3%, and wholesale inflation at 5.2%, while the fiscal deficit had widened to 5.6% of the GDP. “I don’t want to get into why some people were silent at that time,” he said. Under the NDA government, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the July-September quarter hit a 25-quarter low of 4.5%.
Mr. Modi said in the past five years, the country had made itself so strong that it not only could set for itself a target of becoming a $5 trillion economy, but also make efforts in that direction.
“Five years before, the economy was heading for disaster. Our government not only stopped this, but also brought in a discipline in the economy. We brought in fundamental changes in India’s economy so that it can run with set rules in a disciplined manner. We have met with the decades’ old demands of the industrial sector and we have built a strong foundation for a $5 trillion economy,” he said.
Mr. Modi highlighted his government’s decisions such as decriminalisation of corporate offences, and promised that “no inappropriate action will be taken on genuine corporate decisions.” He said ₹100 lakh crore would be spent in the coming years on building infrastructure and another ₹25 lakh crore on the rural economy and this, in turn, would help nearly double the size of the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma took exception to Mr. Modi’s comments, saying, “We know five years ago, the economy was strong when you look at the rate of investment, industrial output or capital formation or job creation. But now [we] are staring at a deepening economic crisis, not just slowdown.”
