The Congress Party on Wednesday downplayed reports of India's GDP numbers for quarter January-March making the nation the fastest growing economy in the world, saying it has been hyped as GDP is not the only economic indicator.
Congress leader P. L. Punia claimed the GPD was even higher during the last two years of the UPA rule.
"After taking over office, the government had reworked the GDP. Now, considering their reworked figures even we were much higher in our last two years of rule," he told ANI.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid mentioned former finance minister P. Chidambaram's recent remark that the GDP has grown only up to five percent to justify his point.
"Considering that, the BJP-led government complaining about the low level of GDP during our last two years is completely wrong," Khurshid told ANI.
"Be it as it may, GDP is not the only economic indicator. We are a large economy and all other indicators like household savings, production, job availability in the market, exports and our fiscal situation should all be looked together with the GDP," he added.
Khurshid further said one needs to answer whether reports of India's growth pointing to fastest growing large economy actually reflect on the state of economy in the country.
India's GDP grew 7.6 percent in 2015-16, powered by a rebound in farm output and an improvement in electricity generation and mining production in the fourth quarter of the fiscal.
According to the survey results, agriculture sector is expected to record a median growth of 2.8 percent in 2016-17, with a minimum and maximum range of 1.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively. Industrial growth is anticipated to grow by 7.1 percent in 2016-17, while services sector growth is estimated at 9.6 percent.
The survey was conducted during April/May 2016 among economists belonging to the industry, banking and financial services sector.
The economists were asked to provide forecast for key macro-economic variables for the year 2016-17 as well as for Q4 (January-March) FY16 and Q1 (April-June) FY17.
The median growth forecast for IIP has been put at 3.5 percent for the year 2016-17 with a minimum and maximum range of 3.0 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.
