New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Finance minister Yashwant Sinha today joined skeptics over the GDP numbers saying the 7.6 per cent growth rate for 2015-16 may have been "inflated" due to "discrepancies" which if removed would bring it down "drastically".
He said that the 'discrepancy' figure which was less than Rs. 30,000 crore a year ago has gone up to Rs. 1,40,000 crore in 2015-16.
"If the discrepancies are removed, then the growth rate falls down drastically," said Sinha, who takes frequent potshots at the government, adding that “if the 'discrepancies' are taken out, then the growth figure sinks to 3.9%.”
In a column written for a news portal, Sinha asked, “If exports are down month after month, if the banks are distressed and NPAs (non-performing assets) are increasing, if private sector investment is not picking up, if agriculture is in distress and if the services sector is stagnating, then where is this growth coming from?”
The former finance minister demanded that the government issue a clarification following the US State Department's observation that the growth may be overstated.
He also noted there has been domestic criticism of the growth figures as well.
"The government should clarify the situation not because I care for what the US has said but because there has been domestic criticism of it from certain quarters too," the senior BJP leader, who has often faulted the Modi government over its economic and foreign policies, told PTI.
Even if domestic criticism is ignored, the government should now come out with a clarification after India's "best friend"--the US--has also sounded unconvinced, he said in an apparent jibe at the Modi government.
The NDA government has changed the criteria by which growth figures are evaluated and it has resulted in sharp upward revision of previous growth rates.
He also wondered if the Department of Statistics, which puts out the figures, was fully equipped to deal with the changes.
Sinha said when he chaired the standing committee on finance during the previous Lok Sabha, he found the department making many "bloopers" in its report.
The former FM questioned whether the statistics put out by it can be trusted.
A report produced by the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs of the State Department said that India's 7.5 per cent growth rate may be "overstated" and the Narendra Modi government has been "slow" to match its "rhetoric" in economic reforms.
"Ostensibly, India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, but this depressed investor sentiment suggests the approximately 7.5 per cent growth rate may be overstated," the report titled "Investment Climate Statements for 2016" said.
