Put economy back on growth track: Cong to Centre

Raising "serious concerns" over the state of economy, Congress today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers to come out of the "make believe world of their creation" and put the economy back on growth track by reviving exports, re-energising investments and creating jobs.

"It is time for a reality check. Prime Minister and his Ministers need to step out of a make believe world of their creation, refrain from misleading propaganda and focus now on putting the economy back on growth track by reviving exports, re-energising investments and job creation," the party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma said.

In a statement, the former Union minister said statistics on Indian economy and the "weak" GDP growth in the first quarter of the current financial year raise serious concerns over the state of the Indian economy.
 

"Notwithstanding the claims of the government, the Q1 GDP growth at 7.1 per cent confirms that the growth rate is almost flat," he said.

"Despite its efforts at inflating figures, glossing and misrepresenting numbers, the growth is far below what was projected," he said.

Key parameters of the economy -- investments, savings, capital formation, capacity utilisation and merchandise exports -- are in sharp decline, he said.

"Contrary to the boastful claims of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Indian economy is not surging but is a struggling one," he said.

The investment sentiment is depressed, investment rate is negative and the Gross Capital Formation has fallen in real terms, he said.

"Let alone creation of new manufacturing capacities, non-utilisation of over one-third of the existing industrial capacity, industrial credit off-take falling to 20 years low and large scale lay off of industrial workers have further aggravated the situation," he claimed.

Insisting that a government, that had assumed office, in an environment of hope and high expectations, has "failed to deliver" on its promises, he said the people, especially the unemployed youth and the poor, feel betrayed.

"The BJP-NDA government has managed to achieve the dubious distinction of derailing the economy despite the fact that it received windfall advantage from the sharp fall in petroleum and commodity prices," he added.