Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday came out with a strong counter to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s ‘incompetent doctors’ overseeing the economy comment, saying she doesn’t want to learn from those who gave “faulty remedies”, under whom FDI literally ran away and “cronies” fled the country after defaulting on bank loans.
In her usual combative style, she defended her handling of the economy citing “seven specific green shoots” in rising foreign direct investment (FDI), net foreign portfolio inflows, kicking off of Rs 103 lakh crore infrastructure pipeline, jump in foreign exchange reserves, GST collection topping Rs 1 lakh crore in six months in current fiscal, rebound in industrial production and surge in stock markets.
Defending her Budget for 2020-21, she reeled out announcements of last year including reduction in tax rate on income generated by companies, compared steps taken by the Congress-led UPA during global financial crisis of 2008-09 and took credit for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cutting interest rates by as much as 135 basis points last year to boost growth from its worst showing in 11 years.
She first spoke at length in the Lok Sabha, giving out statistics and hard data to defend not just budgetary allocation but also the slippage in fiscal deficit target for the third year a row.
Hours later, she came to the Rajya Sabha with a shorter and crisper reply, much of which targeted Chidambaram who had on Monday stated that the "economy was perilously close to collapse and was being attended by incompetent doctors" and that the Government had predispositions.
"A lot of assumptions were being put on us. One thing I concede and that is it is certainly predisposed about not repeating faulty remedies that the UPA Government gave in 2008-09. None of that will be repeated by us," she said.
"What was the remedy offered in 2008-09 and what did it result in. We certainly don't want that burden on the economy for today or for the future," she said adding the UPA during 2004 and 2014 was "very fortunate" to inherit a cushion in the good work of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government of the previous five years.
The Finance Minister
said she would take comments and suggestions made by everyone but not "when you are constantly throwing barbs at us".
Stating that the Government was trying to bring back a number of cronies ran away from the country after taking money from banks, she said: "So that twin balance sheet problem is not something which I would not want to learn from those very competent doctors."
Again, the NPAs running into lakhs of crores of rupees was a fallout of "another remedy offered during the 2008-09 crisis".
"We certainly do not want to inherit or copy those remedies of competent doctors," she said and went on to cite double-digit inflation, high fiscal deficit and Government liability being passed on to oil companies to dress up the balance sheet as other ills of the UPA era.
Sitharaman said in 2012-13, foreign investment recorded a negative 36 per cent growth. "Literally FDI ran out of this country. And this is competent doctors holding the economy together."
On Chidambaram's charge of the Modi Government has a predisposed mindset about foreign trade agreements, she said the pacts signed during UPA are being reviewed as they are "harming" the country. Chidambaram's speech had more sarcasm than content, she said.
On the economy, she said the size of the Indian economy has grown from USD 2 trillion to USD 2.9 trillion in five years that saw an average growth rate of 7.45 per cent in inflation of around 4.5 per cent.
Listing initiatives taken by the government, she said, increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), rise in factory output and over Rs 1 lakh crore GST collection in six months of current fiscal were indications of green shoots in the economy. Referring to visible indicators of green shoots, the Finance Minister said the forex reserve is at an all-time high and the stock market is upbeat.