New Delhi: A combative Congress today questioned the claims of the Modi government that the economy is growing faster compared to the time UPA was in power.
"Modi government's claim of economy growing by more than 7 percent is misleading because they are now using a new GDP methodology to measure the growth. If the same methodology is used to measure the GDP growth in last two years of UPA-II rule, then it's the same and it means that the growth is actually flat," Anand Sharma, Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha, claimed today.
Sharma, former cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh government, made these claims while addressing the 88th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in the national capital.
The Congress leader pointed out that the economy was not in good health as is evident from the sharp decline in exports. He also castigated the government for not passing on the benefit of drop in crude oil prices to the consumers.
"Why there is 19% slump in Indian exports despite global expansion? You have filled your coffers on account of falling crude oil prices but why did you not pass on the benefit to the consumers? We should not be misled into believe incorrect things in face of these harsh realities," Sharma said.
When Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance in Modi government, was asked to respond to Anand Sharma's claims of economic growth falling flat, he merely said that he will check facts with the Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam and come back with a response.
Sinha, however, pointed out that the government has managed to sustain the growth despite challenges like two consecutive failures of Monsoon, slump in exports and additional burden arising out of implementation of OROP (One Rank One Pension) and 7th Pay Commission recommendations.
Holding global slowdown responsible for decline in exports, the minister, however, pointed out that India's share in global market has not gone down and it still remains the same.
Sinha also said that the Modi government was focusing on budgetary governance which aims at striking a balance between revenue generated and expenditure incurred. He said that the government's priority is to improvise the quality of government expenditure.
