Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India’s economy is much better than most countries. Sitharaman claimed that there’s no chance India is going through a credit crunch.
In response to oppositional questioning of price rise, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said India’s economy is much better than most countries. Also adding that our country is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The minister’s response comes ten days after oppositional demand for a query on increasing prices.
Nirmala Sitharaman: No Chance India is going through a credit-crunch
Sitharaman gave a detailed account of all parameters for measuring the economy and claimed that there’s no chance India is going through a credit crunch.
Indicating a growing economy, Sitharaman asserted that the GST collection in July was reported to be Rs. 1.49 lakh crore second highest after Rs. 1.68 lakh crore in April. Hence, GST collections rose by 28%.
Also comparing the Indian Economy with that of the US, she asserted that the US economy fell from 1.9% in the first quarter to 0.7% in the second quarter. “They called this unofficial recession. There is no question of India getting into recession…”.
Referring to a Bloomberg Survey of economists she said “There is 0 possibility of India slipping into recession”, as told in the survey.
Factors such as Covid-19, Omicron, and the Russia-Ukraine war should not be ignored
Answering the rival’s query, she also asserted that other factors such as Covid, Omicron, Russia-Ukraine war should not be ignored. These have long disrupted things.
“The pandemic, second-wave of Covid, Omicron, Russia-Ukraine – despite all this we have held the inflation at 7 percent or below. And that has to be recognized,” the minister asserted.
Also, quoting the inflation percent of opposition party UPA from 2004 to 2014,., Ms. Sitharaman alleged that during that period the inflation was above 9 percent for twenty-two consecutive months.
Indicating food and fuel inflation she told “Food inflation is coming down in the world, and it will come down in India also”.
The discussion started once Parliament Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi revoked the suspension of four Congress Lok Sabha MPs.
Arguments and Counter Arguments as soon as the Discussion commenced
As the discussion kick-started, several members across parties participated in discussions questioning the government on several issues like price-rise and joblessness.
Alleging ruling government Congress MP Manish Tewari claimed that ruling party BJP mismanaged the economy through “demonetization and ill-conceived GST”.
The recent GST hike was questioned by the MP, asserting that the government has collapsed the budget of the general public to strengthen theirs. They ruined the budget of twenty-five crore Indians to fulfill their own.
Responding to this, Jharkhand’s BJP MP Nishikant Dubey referred to the LPG prices tweet of fact-checker Mohammed Zubair. Comparing the LPG prices what it was in 2013 and what it is now, over ₹ 1000 in 2013 but now it’s less.
The BJD’s Pinaki Misra also brought to attention that after the pre-demonetization the cash circulation in the country doubled.
Sitharaman continued by showing how the country is at a more positive economic development than its neighbors like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and even China. “In India, the gross Non-Performing Assets of scheduled commercial banks is on a six-year low at 5.9 percent in FY-22. So, in China 4,000 banks are on the verge of going bankrupt and our NPAs are improving”, she said.
However, she was interrupted in the middle of her response when congress and DMK ministers staged a walkout. They started leaving the house alleging that the minister’s answer didn’t satisfy them.
