Jairam Ramesh: 2017-18 'terrible' choice for new GDP base year

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday criticised the BJP government's plan to revise the base year to calculate the gross domestic product growth from the current 2011-12 to 2017-18, saying it was a "terrible" idea.

Citing a media report in this regard, Ramesh asked if it was only to make Modi 2.0 government look good on GDP growth rates. He suggested that 2018-19 should be made the GDP base year as 2017-18 was "an abnormal year with notebandi (demonetisation) and hasty GST".

"Government wants 2017-18 as new GDP base year. Terrible idea! It was an abnormal year with notebandi & hasty GST. Is this only to make Modi Sarkar 2.0 look good on GDP growth rates?" he tweeted.

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