'Fall in GDP is a telling commentary on the economic management of BJP govt': Chidambaram

Following the steep fall in India's GDP growth, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram remarked that it is a 'telling commentary' on the economic management of the BJP government. Taking to Twitter, the senior Congress leader stated that the overall GDP growth released on Friday accounts for only the 'pre-lockdown' phase. He added that of the days of the fourth quarter (Q4), lockdown applied to only seven days. 

"We had forecast that GDP for Q4 will touch a new low below 4 per cent. It has turned out to be worse at 3.1 per cent," the former Union Minister tweeted on Friday. 

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Amid India's coronavirus lockdown, the country's GDP growth for the January-March quarter (Q4) 2019-20 stands at 3.1%, according to PTI. In comparison, India grew by 4.7% in the previous quarter Q3 of FY 2019-20. The government had revised fiscal deficit target for FY20 to 3.8%, as the nation continues to face the economic consequences of the lockdown which started on March 25. Overall FY 19-20 GDP stands at 4.2%, hitting an 11-year low.

Core sector's growth shrinks

As per industry data for April 2020, eight core industries growth stood at -38.1% in comparison to -9% in March. Moreover, coal sector production is down by 15.5%, Cement production down by 86%, Steel production down by 83.9%, Coal mining down by 15.5%, Electricity production down by 22.8% in April 2020. These markers represent the worst performance by the key infrastructure areas since 2005.

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Centre's economic tranches

In a bid to boost India's economy, PM Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package - including the previous monetary package and the liquidity measures announced by RBI till date (amounting to 10.26 lakh crore) to kickstart Indian economy's growth. Since then FM Sitharaman has announced a slew of reforms in five parts to strengthen MSMEs, migrants, street vendors, urban poor, agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing.  She has also announced sectoral reforms in Coal, defence production, minerals, civil aviation (Airports, Airspace Mgmt & MRO), power distribution in UTs, Space, atomic energy and reformed MGNREGA, education and a new PSE policy. 

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