Economy is resilient: mos finance

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur (pictured) on Wednesday said the Indian economy is resilient and will rebound based on reforms that have ensured strong fundamentals, hitting back at former FM P Chidambaram who accused the government of mismanaging the economy.

Thakur said India is witnessing a “swift” rebound, from a contraction of 24.4 per cent in Q1FY21 to a growth of 1.6 per cent in Q4.

Chidambaram on Tuesday said FY21 has been the “darkest year” in four decades, considering the performance of the economy in the last four quarters, and the government must admit its errors of commission and omission, reverse its policies and heed the advice of economists and the Opposition. His remarks came after the government released data showing GDP contracted 7.3 per cent in the pandemic-hit FY21.

Thakur said various international agencies project India to grow 12.5 per cent in FY22, making it the only major economy to have a projected double-digit growth.

He said the lockdown last year saved lives.

India had record wheat procurement in the ongoing marketing season, he wrote, adding PM-KISAN has been a “cash-in-hand” benefit to the farmers. Besides this, the government had made direct cash transfers to widows, senior citizens, building and construction workers, among others, totaling around ~68,000 crore.

Thakur wrote while the Upa-led government “disbursed bad loans”, the NDA government, through the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, is providing ~3 trillion government guarantee on loans extended to small businesses, and so far ~2.65 trillion has been sanctioned by banks and NBFCS to 9.2 million borrowers.