Confidence: From fragile to foremost economy in 9 years, says Sitharaman
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Asserting that the Indian economy is currently the fastest-growing in the world, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that a global ranking company has moved its rating for India from fragile to foremost in the last 9 years of the Narendra Modi government.
Addressing the Lok Sabha during the debate on the No-Confidence Motion tabled by the Opposition parties’ INDIA bloc, she cited an instance where brokerage firm Morgan Stanley upgraded India’s rating as its economy is doing well.
“In 2013, Morgan Stanley had included India in the list of five fragile economies of the world. India was declared a fragile economy. Today, the same Morgan Stanley upgraded India and gave it a higher rating. In just nine years, the economy rose and saw economic development due to the policies of our government – despite Covid-19. Today, we are the fastest-growing economy in the world,” she said.
Taking a jibe at the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Sitharaman said during its, citizens were “supposed to” get benefits, and during the NDA’s rule, people “are already getting” the benefits.
“The UPA wasted an entire decade because there was a lot of corruption and cronyism. Today, every crisis and adversity has been changed into a reform and an opportunity,” she said.
“Transformation comes through actual delivery, not through spoken words. You (the UPA) gave only dreams to people. We make their dreams a reality. We believe in empowering all and appeasement of none.”
About banking, Sitharaman said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took measures to improve this key sector during its tenure.
“We realized the banking sector must be healthy. So, we took a lot of measures. Now, banks work without political interference. They are working with professionals professionally. We are still cleaning up the mess you bequeathed to us”, she remarked.
“Our Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) story has set an example for the rest of the world. Of course, the UPA had operationalized the DBT, but only Rs 7,367 crores were transferred in 2013-14. In contrast, the DBT transfers increased five times by 2014-15 itself. In the last financial year (FY23), Rs 7.16 trillion have been transferred through the DBT,” the FM revealed.
About the seasonal price rise of tomatoes, Sitharaman said that the government was already procuring and distributing this kitchen staple through cooperative societies like the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Ltd (NCCF) in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
