Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has the fastest growing economy, but “some” in the opposition keep raising concerns about the country’s growth out of “jealousy,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The minister’s comment came during Question Hour, after Congress member from Telangana A Revanth Reddy addressed the subject of the rupee’s devaluation against the dollar and asked the administration whether it had any plans to control the situation.
The Telangana Congress MP said that the Modi administration had “ruined” the country’s economy since 2014. He also referenced Prime Minister Modi’s comment made during the previous Congress-led UPA regime that the rupee had gone into ICU when it was valued at Rs 66 against the dollar.
In response to Reddy’s question, Sitharaman said that while alluding to Modi’s previous statements on the value of the rupee versus the dollar, the Congress member should have also mentioned the economic statistics at the time.
“Economy was undoubtedly in the intensive care unit at the time. “India was maintained among the vulnerable five and now India is the fastest growing economy,” she explained.
“India is the fastest growing economy in the world today,” she said, despite the epidemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“This is a matter of pride for me. “But they make fun of it,” she says.
“It’s unfortunate that people say such things out of envy when our economy is going well…. Today, these individuals are opposing the Indian economy,” the finance minister said.
She said that the Indian rupee had been strong versus “any currency”.
“And that has been proven, and I am able to read the documents,” she continued.
The US dollar is becoming “stronger and stronger” as a result of “US Fed policies,” according to the finance minister.
She stated that the influx of FDIs and FIIs has increased the country’s foreign reserves in recent weeks.
“The reality remains that reserves are increasing. That is why, at this moment, discussions about foreign exchange, rupee devaluation, reserves dwindling, or investors fleeing are not supported by statistics,” she noted.
In response to a supplementary question, Congress member Reddy stated that the government under Prime Minister Modi had borrowed more than Rs 18 lakh crore in the last eight years alone, whereas the country’s borrowing from 1947 to 2014 was more than Rs 55.87 lakh crore.
“Every year, you live by borrowing Rs 10 lakh crore… “This regime has utterly destroyed the country,” he alleged. PK PTI RT
