SBI chief says nobody can make authentic claims about job creation in dearth of data

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar Monday said nobody can make an authentic statement on job creation or jobless economic growth as there is no reliable data of jobs in the country, unlike in the U.S.A., which has such data. "Unfortunately, in India, there is no reliable statistics unlike in the U.S, where there is payroll data for jobs, which is taken to be authentic.

In our country, reliable job data is not available. Hence nobody can make a authentic statement on jobless economic growth or job creation. I think it has become more of a political debate," he told reporters here. His comment comes in the wake of Union Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday rejecting criticism of giving a 'jobless economic growth', saying that the absence of any major social or political agitation in the last five years indicated that government schemes have created employment.

In an interview to PTI, Jaitley, who is in the US for medical treatment, had justified the absence of any major mention of job creation in the Interim Budget of February 1, saying such budgets are different from the normal budget speeches as they are more like "a report card and a road map." Kumar said jobs in the manufacturing sector has seen a reduction due to use of technology and there was a lot of 'disguised unemployment.' The services sector, on the flipside, was creating jobs, he added. However, the country was better off than 30 years ago, when a majority of the population were poor, he said.

"Thirty years back, a majority of the people were poor and hence there was no problem. Now a large number of people are well off and at the same time, another larger chunk of people are still not well off. Therefore, there is social tension with aspirations going high," he said. Asked to comment on loan waivers which affects the banking sector and eventually the economy as a whole, Kumar said the country is in the last leg of loan waivers and is now moving towards Direct Benefit Transfers, which has the potential of supporting farmers every year than having liabilities over a period of time.

"We are in the last leg of loan waivers... The country is now moving towards Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). After Telangana implemented it, Odisha and even the Union Budget followed suit. We see the DBTs catching up this year. I am all for DBT as it is better to have support for farmers every year than have liabilities over a period of time," he said.

If central and state government resources are combined, a minimum income support for farmers can be ensured, he added. "Prices of agricultural produce have fallen and farming has become an unviable activity. Loan waivers cannot support farmers," Kumar said.

(With inputs from agencies.)