Congress slams Govt over GDP, calls growth unsustainable

Taking a swipe at the Government over the latest GDP rates, the Congress on Friday said the numbers continue to be disappointing and asserted that high growth rates are simply not sustainable in the absence of any renewed momentum in private investment. The opposition party’s jibe came after the Indian economy recorded a six-quarter high growth of 8.2 per cent in July-September.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said it is ironic that the quarterly GDP numbers have been released soon after an IMF report gave the second-lowest grade of C to India’s national accounts statistics in its annual assessment of the Indian economy.

“The numbers continue to be disappointing. There has been no upswing in Gross Fixed Capital Formation. High GDP growth rates are simply not sustainable in the absence of any renewed momentum in private investment. That is clearly not in evidence,” Ramesh said in a social media post.

“The unrealistically low GDP deflator -- which implies an inflation rate of only 0.5 per cent -- is at complete variance with the experiences of crores of households burdened by crushing price rise in their items of daily consumption,” the Congress leader said.

The Indian economy recorded a six-quarter high growth of 8.2 per cent in July-September, as factories churned out more products in anticipation of a consumption boost from the GST rate cut, according to Government data.

The GDP growth in the second quarter was better than the 7.8 per cent of the preceding three months and 5.6 per cent in the year-ago period.

Manufacturing, which makes up 14 per cent of the country’s GDP, rose by 9.1 per cent in Q2, up from 2.2 per cent in the same quarter last financial year.