Kharge slams Modi govt, calls Sitharaman's 'good returns' claim ironic

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday termed as ironical the claim of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Indian economy is giving good returns, and said a "visionless" Modi government has tanked the economy and ruined the lives of Indians.

"Nothing can be more ironical than Modi Sarkar's FM saying that our Economy is delivering 'Good Returns', he said in a post on X.

Kharge said Rs 45 lakh crore has been wiped out from the Indian stock markets so far in 2025 and Nifty 50 firms have shown the worst quarterly profit growth in five years.

"Foreign Investors have sold over Rs 1.56 lakh crore of stocks since October last year, including nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in 2025 itself, which has led to wiping out wealth of small and medium investors," the Congress chief said.

"Rupee at 87, means Trade Deficit is sky-high. Imports have risen by 62.21 percent in the last 5 years. The Modi Government's Trade policy is disastrous for India," he said.

Drawing a comparison, Kharge said export growth during the 10 years of UPA government from 2004 to 2014 grew by 549.36 percent while during the 10 years of Modi government from 2014 to 2024 exports grew by 24.72 percent (Till April-Nov 2024).

"The Modi Government has forgone a Corporate Tax revenue of Rs 10 Lakh Crore in past 10 years, in anticipation that they will create jobs, but 8 out 9 companies that have benefitted from the cut in Corporate taxes have REDUCED Jobs," he said.

The Congress chief also said India is staring at a global Tariff war,  "Our Manufacturing Sector is drowning, Make in India and PLI Schemes have failed, youth unemployment has NO solution, Price Rise is extinguishing savings, Consumption is falling and there is no respite from Budget, Rural wages have seen ZERO growth, the Rupee has depreciated by 43% in the past 10 years and forced oil-gas buy would burden our import bills," he said.

"A visionless, rudderless and policyless Modi Sarkar has tanked the Indian Economy, ruining the lives of Indians," Kharge charged.

Seeking to assuage concerns over foreign institutional investors (FII) selling Indian equities lately, Sitharaman on Monday attributed the action to profit booking.

She said the Indian economy is one where the investors are bagging better returns which leads to profit booking.

"FIIs also go out when they are able to or in a position to book profits. Indian market today, Indian economy today, has an environment in which investments are also yielding good returns and profit booking is also happening," she said.

It can be noted that FIIs have sold over Rs 1.56 lakh crore of stocks since October last year, including nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in 2025 itself, which has led to a sharp correction on the indices and wiping out investor wealth.