n Soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to revive the economy, the Congress on Saturday dubbed them as “cosmetic measures” and said the Modi government was “clueless” over the economy which is in shambles.
The Congress' attack came after Sitharaman announced an over Rs 70,000-crore package for exports and real estate sectors, including setting up of a stressed asset fund, as the government continued with firefighting measures to pull the economy out of a six-year low growth rate.
“I can only say that the finance minister is clueless as to how to deal with the gravity of the crisis and the government has no concrete plans to revive the economy,” Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said at a press conference.
After the earlier announcements of stimulus package, the situation deteriorated and the latest steps are not going to help, Sharma asserted.
“The finance minister of India is lacking in macroeconomic understanding. A comprehensive package for economic revival was expected,” he said.
“The steps announced today will not revive the Indian economy, they are purely cosmetic, piecemeal and also convey the arrogance of the government and its indifference to the seriousness of the situation,” he said.
Hitting out at the Finance Minister for blaming the youth and millennials for the economic slowdown, Sharma said, “The BJP ministers have been making shocking statements insulting the youth. The Finance Minister said that the millennials are responsible for the economic slowdown and has not apologised for her statement so far.”
He said the government is also low on reserves. Citing the figures of the government, Sharma said that in the last financial year, the government was Rs 1.7 lakh crore in deficit. This year they have a target of Rs 24 lakh crore, but in last five months they have only managed to get Rs 5.4 lakh crore.
India's growth rate has slipped to 5 per cent in the June quarter, government data showed last month. Several sectors from the auto manufacturing to even consumer goods have raised concerns of flagging sales.
Forecasting the move could lead to banks providing up to an extra Rs. 68,000 crore of export credit, Ms Sitharaman said that the government will relax rules for lending to priority sectors
The finance minister also detailed other steps, including improved insurance cover to banks that lend to exporters and the digitalization of certain services that she said would further bolster exports.