NEW DELHI: A day before presentation of Economic Survey, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today painted a bleak picture of the Indian economy insisting “it is not in good shape” while former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Government is “hiding behind” GDP numbers that are being challenged.
Releasing the “Real State of Economy 2017”, a document prepared by the Congress research cell at the party headquarters here, Singh said it speaks about the state of India’s economy, its many issues and where it is heading.
“That the Indian economy is not in a good state is obvious. Even IMF has downgraded our GDP growth and it will not be 7.6 per cent but less than 6.6 per cent,” he said.
Chidambaram said the state of the economy “is not something that we can be happy about” and expressed concern over the low credit growth which he claimed is at 5 per cent, the “lowest in several decades”.
“BJP is hiding behind a GDP number which is being challenged. People are not dazzled by it, but are asking where are the jobs?
“NDA Government tends to believe exaggerated version of economy, this research document is closer to truth than what Government will say tomorrow,” he said.
Chidambaram said every Government must be optimistic, but optimism must stem from a realistic assessment of situation. (AGENCIES)
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