Niti Aayog attributes high growth to untenable fiscal deficit

Kumar was reacting to news reports about National Statistical Commission (NSC) sub-committee's estimates of GDP growth series with the 2011-12 base.

Niti Aayog today attributed the high growth achieved during the UPA government to the untenable fiscal deficit and reckless expansion of bank credit that led to the dramatic economic collapse.

Similarly, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said that the over 10 percent growth rate during the Rajiv Gandhi government was debt funded, leading to the disastrous collapse of growth in 1990-92 forcing India to physically transfer gold reserves abroad to avoid a debt service default.

Kumar was reacting to news reports about National Statistical Commission (NSC) sub-committees estimates of GDP growth series with the 2011-12 base.

As per the back series data on GDP, Indian economy clocked a 10.08 percent growth rate in 2006-07 under the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the highest since the liberalization of the economy in 1991.

On the other hand, the Niti Aayog vice-chairman said in a series of tweets that growth rate under four years of the Modi government is still higher than the last four years of UPA.

He said NSC sub-committee's estimates of GDP growth series with the 2011-12 base are yet unofficial.

"However, the following facts are clear. A higher growth rate in 2009-2011 and in previous years was funded by the untenable fiscal deficit and reckless expansion of commercial bank credit which was surely unsustainable. This led to a dramatic economic collapse and growth floundered spectacularly in last 3 years of UPA II," he said.

This, Kumar added, is reflected in Sudipto Mundle committee's estimates on the back series as well -- 7.05 percent in 2011-12; 5.42 percent in 2012-13; and 6.05 percent in 2013-14.

"India was branded as part of the Fragile 5. Rupee's exchange rate went into a free fall during May-August 2013, declining almost 25 percent in 4 months," Kumar said in another tweet.

Growth rate under four years of the Modi government is still higher than the growth rate of the last four years of UPA. This is being managed despite the pernicious legacy of massive NPAs, de-leveraging of commercial bank credit and an uncertain global trade environment, he added.

Moreover, strong foundations have been laid out during the past 4 years for sustained high and inclusionary growth in the future, Kumar said.

The National Statistics Commission had set up the committee to recommend suitable measures to strengthen systems and processes for collection, collation, and dissemination of these statistics with the possibility for improving timeliness.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to the finance ministry, said the suggested back series shows that growth had already accelerated to over 8 percent in 2003-04, following a series of important reforms under the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"Thus, the strong performance of subsequent years had a lot to do with the momentum that had already been built up," he said in a tweet.

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Surjit Bhalla also said that new GDP data does not change the reality that 'macroeconomic instability' was highest under the previous UPA government period. In a tweet on new GDP series, Shamika Ravi, member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)said: "1) Glad that skeptics finally accept its credibility. 2) UPA 1 inherited & steered a structurally sound, accelerating economy but UPA2's irresponsible, unsustainable policies lead to high inflation and growth slowdown. 3)Quality of growth matters!".

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)