Come clean on fisc

Govt must not conceal how slowdown is impacting revenue

The government is facing a fiscal crisis amid a slowdown that appears to be intensifying. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from the recent release of the updated data. The index of industrial production (IIP) fell for a second consecutive month in September, this time by 4.3 per cent. This was after a 1.4 per cent fall in August. The September contraction is the highest since the new series of the IIP was introduced in 2012, and compares only to a 5 per cent drop in October 2011, when the post-crisis stimulus began to lose its effect