Nehru or Tipu Sultan?: Prakash Raj takes a jibe at GDP figures

Mounting an attack at the Centre and taking a jibe at MPs looking uninterested in Parliament, actor turned politician Prakash Raj on Saturday raked up the most recent GDP growth rate figures, released by the Central Statistics Office a day earlier. "ECONOMY in ICU.......VIKAAS and VISHWAS in the INCUBATOR .. whom do we question....NEHRU or TIPPU SULTHAN..." wrote Prakash Raj. He also shared a graph, indicating a decline in GDP. 

READ | Finance Ministry gives 1st response on 4.5% Q2 GDP growth; finds solace in IMF projection

Nirmala Sitharaman's take on liquidity in the market and declining GDP

Crushing claims about there being no liquidity in the market, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that after the 'outreach programme', the total liquidity that went into the hands of people under various categories was Rs 2,50,000 crores. She claimed the NBFCs (Non-banking Financial Companies) due to the increased liquidity received over Rs 16,000 crores and said the problem was 'not about no availability of liquidity but the non-availability to those who wanted to use it'.

READ | Nirmala Sitharaman addresses issues of lowered GDP and liquidity crisis

While talking about the lowered GDP and the economic slowdown, the Finance Minister said the issue is 'lagging' and claimed that FDIs have increased unprecedently. This indicates that people are investing in India. The Finance Minister said that after-tax cuts were announced, various companies have shown an interest to invest in India. She also assured that she would pump money into the Indian economy by the means suggested during the budget to make India a 5 trillion-dollar economy. 

READ | We Should Be Growing At 8-9%: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh On 4.5% Q2 GDP Growth Rate

GDP growth falls 

The latest GDP growth rate of 4.5 percent has been the lowest since March 2013. The figures reveal that India's economy has slowed down. Reports reveal that car sales have declined, factory output has reduced, and exports have also slumped and the government's data shows that rural expenses have also gone down. The central government has tried to take steps to fix that in recent months, by slashing corporate taxes, setting up a special real-estate fund, merging banks and announcing the biggest privatization drive in more than a decade. While authorities are committed to doing more, the policy room may be narrowing.

READ | Chief Economic Advisor Subramanian: 'GDP Likely To Pick Up In Q3'