Lashing out at the critics of his economic policies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Indian economy was on firm footing and that he will never jeopardise the country's future for the present gains.
In an over hour long speech, punctuated with sharp comments and comparisons with track record of previous UPA regime, Modi told a gathering of Company Secretaries that his government will continue the reforms and will not hesitate to take decision to reverse the GDP slowdown witnessed in last two quarters.
Modi said his critics were seeing a slowdown in the last two quarters, but were ignoring the fact that the BJP government had brought down inflation from 10 percent in the UPA regime to 2.5 percent, shrunk Current Account Deficit to near 1 percent from 4 percent, and brought down fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent from 4.5 percent.
GDP growth was 5.7 percent or less than the eight occasions during the previous UPA government, he said, lamenting how pessimists were calling April-June growth of 5.7 percent as doomsday.
Modi’s comments come days after senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in an article described the economy as a “mess” that will not resuscitate before the next general elections.
Addressing concerns over implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Prime Minister said, he has asked the GST Council to identify bottlenecks and technological hurdles faced by businesses, especially small and medium enterprises.
The government, he said, is ready to make amends to help small traders.
Modi said the registration of, 2.1 lakh out of 3 lakh, suspected shell companies, identified post note ban, has been cancelled in the aftermath of a crackdown on black money.
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
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