Rahul Gandhi mocks the Modi-Shah duo over economic slowdown

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, on the ongoing economic slowdown, stating that both the leaders live in their "own world" and "fantasize about things". "Mr Amit Shah and Mr Narendra Modi live in their own imagination, they have no contact with the outside world. They live in their own world & they fantasize about things, that is why the country is in such trouble," Rahul Gandhi told media reporters.

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The opposition parties have been slamming the government over the current economic status and have also raised the issue in the ongoing Parliamentary Winter Session. Recently, Opposition MPs had walked out of Rajya Sabha while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was speaking on the economic situation of the country. Moody's Investors Service had said that India's economic slowdown may last longer than it was expected and pinned the forecast for GDP growth at 5.6% in the year 2019. "We have revised down our growth forecast for India. We now forecast slower real GDP growth of 5.6 percent in 2019 from 7.4 percent in 2018," it said in the Global Macro Outlook for 2020-21.

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GDP Growth Rate In Q2

India's second-quarter GDP (July-September) growth rate stood at 4.5% - the slowest growth in almost seven years, as released by Central Statistics Office on Friday. The previous quarter (April-June) GDP numbers were at 5% and the Q2 (2018-2019) stood at 7%. This development comes in spite of the government's various economic moves like the merger of nine PSU banks into four, major corporate tax cuts, policy changes in the automobile sector, reduction in tax regulations to boost foreign income, attract investors and increase the consumer demand. The government currently follows the base year of 2011-12.

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Base year change

Earlier on Thursday, November 28, the government had told the Rajya Sabha that the  Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS) has recommended that 2020-21 as the base year for calculating GDP. The panel had felt that 2017-18 was not the best year for base calculation. Several experts had cautioned against the selection as 2017-18 saw the turbulence felt because of GST and demonetisation.

(With ANI inputs)