Comments
Countering the Opposition’s attack that the Narendra Modi-government is leading the economy to crisis, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cited the World Bank’s ease of doing business report , that showed India has improved its ranking.
The Opposition, however, pointed out that the report is based on just two cities-Delhi and Mumbai, and emphasised the economy is in a crisis.
Addressing reporters here on Thursday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said due to the Centre’s efforts, India has gained 65 positions from 142 in 2014 to 77 in 2018. “We thank the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the reform and transform agenda that he brought into the policy of India... through this jump in ease of doing business rankings, ‘ achche din ’ (good days) have arrived.”
He alleged the erstwhile UPA regime was marked by “ease of doing corruption.” “It is ease of doing business verses ease of corruption,” he said.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that those who want to invest in the country will not look at one study, which is limited to two cities. “I have not read the report,but it is patterned on last year’s report. It is based on ten parameters studied in only two cities, Mumbai and Delhi. You can’t generalise it for other cities. The study is about private limited companies alone. There is no attempt to survey proprietorships, partnerships, associations, persons… Most businesses in India are not carried out by private limited companies. I am happy that things are good in some parameters but it is a limited study,” he said.
He maintained that the economy is in a crisis. “The government seems to have acknowledged that there is an NBFC crisis, a small and medium enterprises crisis, a liquidity crisis… the government seems to be hinting at all these crises. I suspect they also have a fiscal deficit crisis and a current account deficit crisis,” he said.
Releasing a fact sheet on Jan Dhan Yojana — Modi’s pet scheme, Chidambaram said it was the UPA government that sowed the idea of financial inclusion. “Under the Modi Sarkar , the BSBDA scheme was renamed the Jan Dhan Yojana . Instead of pursuing genuine financial inclusion, the Modi government’s aim appears to be to break records and grab headlines. When the Modi Sarkar speaks of Jan Dhan accounts, it conveniently ignores the 25 crore accounts created before 2014. Why?” he asked.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.