Economy declining exponentially: Congress

Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Saturday that it was the opposition's view that the economy is declining exponentially.

Reacting to the Economic Survey for 2016-17, Sharma said, "The Indian Economy has been in continuous decline which has been unabated and certain decisions of the government have further aggravated the situation."

He further criticized the government saying that the economic policies of the government have only yielded losses.

"The economy is weak and the credit off-take is less. No new investments are being taken place. Jobs are not being created. It is a fact that it is a sliding economy."

He said the current economic policies will lead to a situation of crisis, unless something is done about it.

"Unless serious interventions are made, we are staring at a very serious situation. Unemployment and job losses are mounting that will result in more despondency among the youth," Sharma added.

As per the survey, the Union Budget for 2017-18 opted for a gradual fiscal consolidation path: the fiscal deficit is expected to decline to 3.2 percent of GDP in 2017-2018.

The fiscal deficit target of three percent of GDP under the FRBM framework is projected to be achieved in 2018-19.

Drafted by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, the survey highlighted that the Budget for 2017-18 introduced a number of procedural reforms.