Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the state of economy is deeply worrying, adding to it he said, all round mismanagement by Modi govt has resulted in this slowdown.
Last quarter’s GDP growth rate of 5% signals that were in midst of a prolonged slowdown, he added.
Our economy has not recovered from the man-made blunders of demonetisation and a hastily implemented GST, Singh said in a statement.
As per the data released on Friday, India’s quarterly GDP stood at 5 per cent as compared to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the financial year.
“India cannot afford to continue down this path. Therefore, I urge the government to put aside vendetta politics and reach out to all sane voices and thinking minds, to steer our economy out of this man-made crisis,” Singh said.
The Congress leader said over 3.5 lakh jobs have been lost in the automobile sector alone and he claimed similar large-scale job losses in the informal sector.
He further said domestic demand is depressed and consumption growth has hit an 18-month low. Nominal GDP growth is at a 15-year low. “There is a gaping hole in tax revenues. Tax buoyancy remains elusive as businessmen, small and big, are hounded and tax terrorism continues unabated. Investor sentiments are in doldrums. These are not the foundations for economic recovery,” he added.
