Foreign portfolio investors have taken out 700 million dollars from the Indian market in the first two weeks of 2016, Congress claimed tonight telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take charge of the economy "before it is too late".
"The first two weeks of 2016 have seen the sharpest foreign funds outflow since SEBI started keeping records in 1999", the party said in a commentary on its website titled "PM Modi's New Year record: $700 million pulled out from Indian markets by foreign investors."
It insisted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appear "clueless" on how to stop this outflow.
"This NDA government has launched large schemes with catchy slogans and grand targets but doesn't know how to accomplish them", it said adding that lack of application in India's economic strategy is evident from the latest data on Index of Industrial Production.
The production reached its lowest point in 4 years, contracting by 3.2 per cent in November, it said adding that the capital goods, which are an important indicator of investments, contracted sharply in December by 24 per cent.
"Worryingly, long-term funds invested in India are also witnessing redemptions, which don't bode well for our economy", it said.
Even as the economy is staring down the barrel, the BJP government is busy doing "what it does best" - launch a new scheme and indulge in "jugglery" of numbers, it alleged.
On 16th January, government launched 'Start up India', ostensibly to make India a 'start-up hub'. As usual, the Prime Minister will be claiming credit for and repackaging what the Congress had already put in place, it said.
Between 2004 and 2014, India received $ 90 billion in venture capital and private equity financing for 4000 companies, of which at least 2000 may well be start-ups, the party said.
This had led to India becoming the third largest 'start- up' country in the world, even before Modi coined his "Start up India" slogan, it added.
"As our inflation rises, job growth stagnates and foreign funds leave our markets, we urge the Prime Minister to take charge of the Indian economy, before it's too late", it added.
