Cong sceptical on GDP growth, says wait for next 3-4 qtrs

The Congress today expressed scepticism over the improvement in GDP growth rate, terming it a "temporary pause" from the downward trend, and alleged that it was nothing but the government's "desperate spin to hide its luminous under-performance".
The opposition party, which had accused the government of harming the economy with the twin blows of GST and demonetisation, said while the improvement in GDP numbers was "an encouraging sign", one should wait for the next three-four quarters before drawing a definite conclusion.
Congress incharge of communications department Randeep Surjewala said an assessment of the numbers reveals serious weaknesses in the Indian economy that have affected all major sectors.

"Improvement of GDP numbers is an encouraging sign, but it is just a temporary pause from the downward trend.
"India's economic stress continues; GDP far below at 6.3 pc compared to 7.5 pc of Q2 of last year! - a close scrutiny reveals the real picture of the economic mess created by BJP Government," he said.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the rise in India's GDP growth rate but struck a cautious note.

"Happy that the July-Sep quarter has registered a growth rate of 6.3%. This a PAUSE in the declining trend of the last five quarters (sic).
"But we cannot say now whether this will mark an upward trend in the growth rate. We should wait for the growth rates over the next 3-4 quarters before we can reach a definite conclusion," he said in a series of tweets.

Chidambaram and Surjewala also said that "6.3 per cent is far below the promise of the Modi government and far below the potential of a well-managed Indian economy".
Surjewala said no amount of "spinning", "sugar coating" and "bloating on figures; will alter the ground reality that has hit us hard!".
He wondered what the government is celebrating when the "agriculture sector growth is abysmal, core sector growth is stagnant, manufacturing is down".
"If the numbers of GDP released by the government are to be taken on its face value, a general inference points towards an arrest in continued fall of 'The Great Indian Economy'.

"Modi Government's constant resort to market and arrogantly bloat on the meagre achievements by the just released GDP numbers is nothing but a desperate spin to hide its luminous under-performance," he said.
Surjewala claimed income inequalities were worsening, unemployment was rising, the rural economy was struggling, farmers were driven towards suicide and middle-class is getting crushed under "the double whammy of demonetisation and a flawed GST".
"A pause, a hiatus, a temporary stop or a respite from the downward trend which India's economy witnessed in the past," he said, adding that a fine print of the details reveals that things look "extremely weak and disappointing".

The Congress leader said the GDP growth in the first half of this year (Apr-Sept) is 6 pc, against 7.7 pc in the first half of last year.
He said the Gross Value Added (GVA) growth in first half of this year (Apr-Sept) was 5.8 pc, against 7.2 pc in the first half of last year, while the agriculture GVA growth slowed to 1.7 pc in the second quarter, which was 2.3 pc in the previous quarter which is a significant downfall and impacts almost 70 pc of India.
He also said the manufacturing growth slowed to 7 pc in this quarter from 7.7 pc in the previous quarter and the growth of eight core sector industries remains stagnant and slowed to 4.7 pc in October 2017, which clocked a 7.1 pc growth in October 2016.

Surjewala also said that private Investment is stagnant and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) as a percentage of GDP is lowest since 14 years at 4.3 pc, which is "abysmal and bodes ill for the future".