Despite 'fudging' of data by govt, India's economy continues to slide: Cong

The Congress said on Friday that despite "fudging" of data by the Narendra Modi government, India's economy continues to slide.

Senior party leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said that the latest quarterly growth rates "puncture" the government's claims on economy.

He said while the growth rate in the first quarter of 2018-19 was 8 per cent, it declined to 7 per cent in the second and 6.6 per cent in the third quarter and if it declined further, it will expose the government completely.

"As PM Modi's disastrous tenure comes to an end, despite all the fudging, the economy continues to slow. Less than two months to go before India sees a new dawn," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle.

"Quarterly growth rates of 2018-19 puncture the claims of government. Q1 was 8 %, Q2 was 7 % and Q3 was 6.6 %. This is the swan song of the BJP government. If Q4 growth rate declines further, as is expected, that will expose the government completely," Chidambaram tweeted.

In signs of the Indian economy losing steam ahead of the general elections, GDP growth slowed to a five-quarter low of 6.6 per cent in October-December on the back of lower farm and manufacturing growth and weaker consumer demand, government data has showed on Thursday.

Also, economic growth estimate for the current fiscal year ending March 31 has been revised downwards to 7 per cent from the earlier estimate of 7.2 per cent. This is the lowest growth in the past five years.