Economy on the right path, no cause for panic: FM

New Delhi, Nov 27: Discussing any talks of a recession in the Economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the Economy is moving in the right direction and there was no cause for panic.
Replying to the short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on ‘Economic situation in the country’, Ms Sitharaman said that despite lower rates of economic growth the Findementals of the Economy remain strong.
‘Economic growth may have come down but there is no recession. There will be no recession. India’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was at 6.4 per cent at the end of 2009-2014, whereas between 2014-2019 it was at 7.5 per cent,’Ms Sitharaman said amid a walkout by Opposition parties, wgo expressed dissatisfaction over her reply.
The Finance Minister made it clear that major economic advancements were seen during the in the time of NDA government between 2014-19 as compared to 2009-2014, with the key indicators being headline inflation and core inflation which saw a fall.
‘We all are here to see how we can go forward,’she said.
Dissatisfied with her reply, the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress , the Aam Aadmi party and the Left parties staged a walkout from the House saying that Finance Minister is making comparisons with the previous government and has failed to answer the questions raised by members.
Leader of Congress Anand Sharma interrupted Ms Sitharaman in between the reply and asked for few clarifications. AAP’s Sanjay Singh interuppted in between the Minister’s reply and before walking out said, ‘we are not here to listen to your budget speech.’
Comparing the figures between 2009-2014 when the UPA-II was in power and 2014-2019 when NDA came to power, the Minister said Headline inflation was 4.5 only at the end of 2019 as compared to 10.3 at the end of 2014. Also, food inflation was 3.5 only at the end of 2019 as compared to 11.2 at the end of 2014.
She said that the External Debt to GDP ratio has fallen to 19.7 per cent in 2019 from 23.9 per cent in 2014. Also, Net Portfolio Investment rose to 67.2 billion dollar in 2019 from 59.1 billion dollar in 2014.
On Banking sector reforms, Ms Sitharaman said,’ we follow four R’s approach. This include Recognition of problem, Recapitalisation, Resolution and Reforms. Recapitalisation is essential in the interest of the country.’
Coming to GST, she said states and compensation were the two issues that were not taken not of during UPA’s regime. Taxation , regressive taxation all happened during UPA’s regime.
‘During 2014-2019 we were constantly questioned and they are now condemning corporate tax. They call us ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’,’ he added.
She said that the Gove nrmet was aware of the problems being various various sectors like the Real estate sector an the automobile sector.
‘The automobile sector is improving and most companies have cleared their inventory. The problem arose because of the emission orders that came from the Supreme Court, after which the companies had to change their business models,’ Ms. Sitharaman said.
Mrs Sitharaman said that the rate of economic growth may have slowed down but there was no recession.
‘The rate of Economic growth is slow but it is not recession. There are technical issues responsible for this and the Government is trying to rectify these issues,’she said.