Zero chance of India slipping into recession, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday stated that India continues to remain the fastest growing economy in the world. The cabinet member made this statement as part of her speech in the Lok Sabha while discussing inflation.

Sitharaman claimed that despite the pandemic, the Indian economy has been growing.

“The same was also observed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) each time they reevaluated global trade and global GDPs. India’s GDP might at times have dipped from 8.2% to 7.2% as a result of the pandemic. But it has consistently remained the fastest growing economy,” said Sitharaman.

She further said that irrespective of party differences, everyone should feel proud of the country and its people.

The speech was made amid constant protests from opposition parties in the Lok Sabha.

“The GDP of the United States fell 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, followed by a 1.6% in the first quarter marking what they call an “unofficial recession. However, I would like to inform that there is no question of India going into recession or stagflation,” she said.

Sitharaman further quoted a “Bloomberg survey” by economists said that there is zero probability of India slipping into recession.

“4000 banks in China are on the verge of going bankrupt. In India, the gross nonperforming assets (NPA) of scheduled commercial banks has hit a six-year low of 5.9% in FY 22. Our NPAs are improving while China is going bankrupt,” she said.

The Union minister claimed that the central government has very consciously controlled its debt and it is at 56.29% of the GDP at the end of 2021-22 compared to 59.9% pegged in the revised estimates for that year.

“Globally the pandemic, the Ukraine war etc are making things worse. However, India is fairing well. Today morning, the GST collection was announced. We have garnered the second highest level ever since the introduction of GST which is 1.49 lakh crores. In April 2022, it was 1.67 lakh crores. This is the fifth consecutive month that collections have been above 1.4 lakh crores,” she added.

“The manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) has hit its highest number in eight months with 56.4 for July. So the economy is getting even more robust and is showing very positive signs,” she said.

Further, the Finance minister shot back at the dissendents stating, “Inflation exists. But the question is at what level? Despite the pandemic, second wave, Omicrand, Ukraine war, we have held the inflation below 7% unlike the UPA rule wherein for 22 months the inflation shot up above 9%. And at least nine times, it shot up to double digits under their rule.”