Projected growth of 5 per cent exaggerated, Indians will see little or no growth: Chidambaram

Hitting out at the Modi government, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the projected annual growth of 5 per cent was "exaggerated" and the vast majority of Indians will see little or no growth in their income and quality of life.

India's GDP growth is seen dipping to an 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing and construction sectors, government data showed on Tuesday.

Reacting to the data, Chidambaram said the Advanced Estimates of National Income 2019-20 released yesterday tells the story of neglect and mismanagement of the economy by the BJP government.

"The projected annual growth of 5 per cent is exaggerated and puffery. The growth in the first half was 4.75 per cent. It is difficult to believe that growth in the second half will be 5.25 per cent," the former finance minister said in a series of tweets.

"Key sectors will grow at below 5 per cent, in fact not more than 3.2 per cent. These include Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing and Construction. Thus, all employment generating sectors will grow at paltry rates of 3.2 per cent or below," Chidambaram said.

The boast of the government that millions of jobs are being created is a big lie, he alleged.

"GFCF (Gross fixed capital formation) at current prices in 2019-20 will be 28.1 per cent, one of the lowest in recent years and a sharp fall from the peak. Conclusion: business persons are loath to invest in India," the Congress leader said.

"Per capita GDP will grow at 4.3 per cent. This is the average and means that the vast majority of Indians will see little or no growth in their income and quality of life," he said.

As per the first advance estimates of the national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector output growth will decelerate to 2 per cent in 2019-20, down from 6.9 per cent in the previous financial year.

The construction sector growth is estimated at 3.2 per cent as against 8.7 per cent in 2018-19, according to government data.