’India in its most precarious economic situation’: Congress says Economic Survey presents ’cherry-picked’ view

The Congress accused the Narendra Modi-led government of showcasing a 'cherry-picked' view of the economy on Monday as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared the Economic Survey. The Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group is also slated to hold a meeting on Monday evening to discuss their strategy for the Budget Session.

“India is in its most precarious and difficult economic situation in many years. The Economic Survey 2023-24 presents a cherry-picked view of the economy, but we hope that tomorrow’s Budget faces up to the country’s realities,” said senior party leader Jairam Ramesh.

The Opposition party released a detailed rebuttal of the Survey findings on Monday — highlighting unemployment, inequal economic recovery after COVID-19 and other concerns. It also accused the government of doing its best to present an 'all is well' rosy picture of the economy.

The Congress said that food inflation remained unchecked at nearly 10% per year with the price of specific items growing rapidly. It accused the Modi government of having an 'anti-farmer mindset' that had led to an abuse of import-export policy with “unplanned and unjustified export bans and floods of cheap imports”.

“The failure of trade policy has also contributed to the decimation of India's manufacturing capabilities. The percentage of imports from China has risen from 11% of overall imports in 2014 to 16%. The uncontrolled dumping of these imports has rendered domestic MSMEs uncompetitive, forcing them to shut down,” the Congress alleged.

The Opposition party also noted a dip in private investments even as the government recorded 'record profitmaking'. It cited CMIE data that indicated private investment plans were at their lowest level in 20 years.

The Congress dubbed the current unemployment situation the "greatest failure of the Modi government" in its statement.

"The Economic Survey has flagged that we must create nearly 80 lakh jobs each year for the next 20 years. The Survey also points out that "manufacturing sector employment creation has been subdued in the past decade," despite the hype and hoopla of Make in India. What is not said, however, is that the Union Government's current strategy is entirely reliant on data manipulation and pakodanomics. Achieving the 80 lakhs job target requires a decided shift in the Government's larger economic strategy," the party said.

The Economic Survey is an annual document presented by the government ahead of the Union Budget to review the state of the economy. The document also provides an overview of the short-to-medium-term prospects of the economy.

(With inputs from agencies)