New delhi: Rejecting Congress’ charge that the economy is not doing well, the BJP today said India has become the fastest growing major economy under the leadership of Narendra Modi and the current account deficit will be eliminated in the next few months.
India has evolved as an oasis of economic growth stability and opportunity in the world under Modi government from one of the most fragile economies during the Congress regime, senior BJP leader and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in New Delhi.
Addressing media at the BJP headquarter soon after Congress briefing on the state of economy, Mr Goyal said it is in strong hands and the Modi government has done historic work in strengthening all the macroeconomic parameters.
Citing some of the indicators, he said consumer inflation fell in December 2016 to 3.41 per cent, the lowest since November 2014.
Besides, there is rise in FDI inflow, forex reserve, and GDP growth, he said, adding fiscal deficit and current account deficit (CAD) is consistently falling.
The CAD has declined to 0.3 per cent of the GDP and it is expected that it will come down to zero in the next 3-4 months, he said.
To deal with the menace of corruption, Mr Goyal said the government has taken several initiatives including demonetisation, setting up of Special Investigative Team on black money and tax treaties with Mauritius, Cyprus and Singapore.
Taking on the Congress, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the party is trying to compare their 10 years of performance with two-and-a-half years of NDA government.
“It’s not based on hard data or research, its based on their own wish-list, their own assumptions and broadly casting aspersion on what government is going to do tomorrow,” she said.
Government will present tomorrow in Parliament the Economic Survey for 2016-17 which gives broad picture of the state of the economy and the way forward.
Ms Sitharaman said the objective to hold the press conference by the Congress is to deflect the attention from Vijaya Mallya scandal.
The party quoted from purported letters written by the businessman to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he sought his intervention and subsequent to which his now-defunct company received loans.
PTI