Economy going down, growth rate lower than during UPA rule: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday that the Indian economy was going down and that the growth rate during the present NDA rule was lower than during the earlier UPA's time.

In a series of tweets, he said while India's growth rate during the first two quarters of this financial year was lower than the 30-year average, the average growth rate in four years of National Democratic Alliance rule was also lower than previous United Progressive Alliance's 10-year average.

"Former World Bank Chief Economist Dr Kaushik Basu said India's growth rate was lower than the 30-year average. (The) Finance Minister says that the growth rate is better," the Congress leader tweeted.

Basu had in an interview to The Hindu newspaper said that India's annual growth was 6.6 per cent over the last 30 years while during the first two quarters of this financial year, annual growth was 5.7 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Chidambaram added: "What is the average of four years of NDA? It is 7.3 (per cent) under new methodology and lower than UPA's 10-year average."

"What is the direction of NDA's growth rate? Investments? Savings? Credit growth? All downward."

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the Indian economy had performed really well since the BJP-led government took over in May 2014.

--IANS

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