Put economy back on growth track: Cong to Centre

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Raising "serious concerns" overthe state of economy, Congress today asked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his ministers to come out of the "makebelieve world of their creation" and put the economy back ongrowth track by reviving exports, re-energising investmentsand creating jobs. "It is time for a reality check. Prime Minister and hisMinisters need to step out of a make believe world of theircreation, refrain from misleading propaganda and focus now onputting the economy back on growth track by reviving exports,re-energising investments and job creation," the party’ssenior spokesman Anand Sharma said. In a statement, the former Union minister said statisticson Indian economy and the "weak" GDP growth in the firstquarter of the current financial year raise serious concernsover the state of the Indian economy. "Notwithstanding the claims of the government, the Q1 GDPgrowth at 7.1 per cent confirms that the growth rate is almostflat," he said. "Despite its efforts at inflating figures, glossing andmisrepresenting numbers, the growth is far below what wasprojected," he said. Key parameters of the economy — investments, savings,capital formation, capacity utilisation and merchandiseexports — are in sharp decline, he said. "Contrary to the boastful claims of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Indianeconomy is not surging but is a struggling one," he said. The investment sentiment is depressed, investment rate isnegative and the Gross Capital Formation has fallen in realterms, he said. "Let alone creation of new manufacturing capacities,non-utilisation of over one-third of the existing industrialcapacity, industrial credit off-take falling to 20 years lowand large scale lay off of industrial workers have furtheraggravated the situation," he claimed. Insisting that a government, that had assumed office, inan environment of hope and high expectations, has "failed todeliver" on its promises, he said the people, especially theunemployed youth and the poor, feel betrayed. "The BJP-NDA government has managed to achieve thedubious distinction of derailing the economy despite the factthat it received windfall advantage from the sharp fall inpetroleum and commodity prices," he added. PTI SPGSMN