"Is 5% Accurate?" Congress Doubts Centre's GDP Growth Figure

The Congress on Friday expressed doubts at the centre's gross domestic product growth figure of 5 per cent, suggesting the real number could be lower. Taking a sharp dig at the Narendra Modi government, the party referred to former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian's recent remark that the governments overstated the growth numbers between 2011-12 and 2016-17.

"Given that several doubts have been raised - even by the former Chief Economic Advisor - on the government's GDP calculations, is 5% accurate? Is the real rate of growth even lower?" the party tweeted after the centre announced the GDP growth number today.  

Growth in the country's GDP stood at 5 per cent in the first quarter of current financial year (2019-20), compared with 5.8 per cent in the previous quarter, and 8.0 per cent in the quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Many sectors of the economy are bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown. The auto and real estate sectors are worst-hit. Thousands of jobs have been lost after months of dwindling sales, reports say.

In its bid to push investments and revive growth, the government has announced a range of measures in the past few days, including easing of FDI or foreign direct investment norms in four sectors, and a reversal of higher taxes on foreign investors as announced in Budget.

On Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced reforms in the banking sector, merging several public sector banks.

"As predicted, GDP growth is lower - 5% in Q1 of 2019-20 (lowest in 5 years).  Convenient time to hold a press conference and attempt headline manipulation, but you can't hide from the truth Madam FM," the party tweeted.

The average annual growth between 2011-12 and 2016-17 may have been about 4.5 per cent, not seven per cent, Mr Subramanian had said in June.

"The Indian policy automobile has been navigated with a faulty, possibly broken, speedometer," had written in an Indian Express article.