A day after GDP (Gross Domestic Products) growth rate plunged to six years low, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured that responses to meet the needs of the economy would continue.

Government’s Statistics Office released economic data on Friday estimating GDP growth during three months period ending September 30 (second quarter of the financial year 2019-20 or FY20) to be 4.5 per cent. It is the weakest growth rate after the January-March quarter of 2012-13. With this latest number, the annual growth rate for the current fiscal is likely to go even below six per cent.

“Several significant steps in structural reforms have been taken in these months. Responses/interventions addressing the needs of the economy will continue,” Finance Minister said in a series of tweets. In another tweet she highlighted that to spur investment and industrial growth for fulfilling the target of $5 trillion economy, the Modi government reduced Corporate Tax rates to among the lowest in the world in a historic move.

Earlier this week, replying to a debate on the economic situation, she had categorically said that the growth might have come down but “it is not a recession yet, or it won't be a recession ever.” She also claimed that the economy also has an essential foundation and sentiments. It may be noted that technically slowdown refers to a reduction in the growth rate of GDP while recession means GDP shrinking for two successive quarters. Some of the economists refer to the present scenario as ‘growth recession.’

In another tweet on Saturday, Finance Minister said that the government values the contribution made by honest taxpayers in the development of our country. “To ensure their ease and eliminate instances of harassment, the government introduced faceless e-assessment,” she said.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP also came out with series of tweets with hash-tag of ‘’6 months of India First.’ There it has been said that India is on the track of becoming $5 trillion economy. It has highlighted four key initiatives- strategic disinvestment announced for many Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), labour reforms (three codes approved by the Cabinet with the recent one on Industrial Relations), tax reforms (Corporate tax reduction to 22 per cent for existing businesses and 15 per cent for new domestic manufacturing companies) and bank reforms (10 banks to be amalgamated into four and ₹70,000 crore to be infused in public sector banks).

Talking about farmers, another tweet mentioned important budget 2019 decisions towards doubling farmer incomes. These include – zero budget farming for going back to the traditional method of agriculture, 10,000 new farmer producer organization being formed and incubators to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in rural agro industries.

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