‘Too much vikas’: Rahul Gandhi takes dig at Modi Govt over GDP, unemployment estimates

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a dig at the Narendra Modi government over revised estimates which indicate that the Indian economy could contract by 7.7% in the current financial year, with an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. Mocking the BJP government's "Sabka Sath Sabka Vikaas" motto, Gandhi said the figures indicated “too much vikas” (development) of the country.  

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Gandhi’s attack came after the National Statistical Office (NSO) released the first advanced estimate that predicted India’s gross domestic product (GDP) could contract by 7.7% in the FY 2020 to 21 - the lowest to date. If the economy mirrors the projections estimated by the NSO, India would witness its worst economic performance in at least 60 years. India's overall FY 19-20 GDP stood at 4.2% - an 11-year low. 

India’s official estimate, however, indicates a much better performance compared to the predictions made by multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which have projected (-)9.6% and (-)10.3% respectively. 

Rahul Gandhi has continuously targetted was the government on the economic slowdown, employment, and other issues confronting the common people amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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Indian economy enters recession with -7.5% GDP

Marking its worst contraction in history, India's GDP growth for the first quarter of FY 21 stood at -23.9% as per data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on August 31. This contraction came after the overall FY 19-20 GDP growth stood at 4.2%, hitting an 11-year low.

As per market reports, core sectors' growth stood at the following levels: Industries -381%, Services -20.6%, Manufacturing at -39.3 %, Trade, Hotels at -47%. Agriculture has been the only sector to see growth clocking a 3.4% increase, due to the rural sector remaining mostly free from lockdown. At this point, CRISIL had predicted that India's fourth recession since independence, the first since liberalization and perhaps the worst to date, is here.

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