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Tag / Recession
November 30, 2019

Nirmala Sitharaman’s Discerning Eye

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is endowed with a rare ‘discerning eye’, which has certain magical powers to see imaginary things and filter out the real ones.  Not everyone can be expected to have such special faculties. But she has a problem there: she cannot imagine that not everyone is as lucky as she is.

During a short discussion on the economy in the Rajya Sabha the other day, the finance minister categorically denied that the economy was in recession.  “If you look at the economy with a discerning eye, you see that growth may have come down… but it is not a recession yet and won’t be a recession ever,” she asserted. It did not quite matter to her whether those sitting opposite to her were really convinced. She was convinced and that is all that mattered.

It seems that she is taking things a bit too personally. True, she is the finance minister. But all the problems of the Indian economy are not solely because of her. The problems with the economy started much before she shifted from South Block to North Block to take up the mantle of the finance ministry.

Economy, Opinion
By K Raveendran
November 26, 2019

Indian Economy in Virtual Recession

On the first day of the winter session of Parliament, the finance minister has stated that though the economy has slowed down, it is well on the target of reaching a $5 trillion economy by 2025.  At the current rates of growth, notwithstanding all the data fudging and efforts to show the economy is recovering, the reality is that India’s growth rate is declining steadily and dangerously.

The NCAER has now projected the current growth rate at below 5 per cent (4.9 per cent).  The PTI had filed a story on October 31 reporting a US think tank (Centre for Global Development) assessment that “India’s growth is in barely positive territory”.  Other top institutions have also similarly rated India’s growth rate projections at below 5 per cent.  The ICRA rating agency places it at 4.7 per cent.  The State Bank of India pecks it at 4.2 per cent.

A closer look at key parameters of the Indian economy shows that this declining growth rate has severely impacted on people’s welfare pushing up unemployment and poverty across the board.

Economy, Opinion
By Sitaram Yechury