India fastest growing, BJP reminds Yashwant

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday rejected its former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's criticism of the state of the Indian economy, insisting that our country is the fastest growing in the world and some "uncertainty" is bound to occur when "transformative" measures like demonetisation and GST are taken. Top party leaders defended the economic situation after Sinha slammed the government over decisions like the note ban and GST and said that economic revival appeared "highly unlikely" and a "hard landing" inevitable.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that India's credibility has been established in the international arena under the Modi government. "The whole world admits that India is the fastest growing economy in the world. No one should forget this fact. In the matter of economy, in the international arena, India's credibility has been established," he told reporters in reference to Sinha's views.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said, "There is bound to be some uncertainty when some transformative changes are made. It (the economy) may take some amount of time to absorb these changes but this will pass. Challenges come but we will stay the course. The government is steadfast in its resolve to end black money and corruption. It won't flinch due to some criticism," said Goyal.

In a newspaper editorial page article published on Wednesday, Sinha lashed out at "superman" Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for making a "mess" of the Indian economy which is headed for a "hard landing as sector after sector is slipping into distress". He said that Jaitley had been luckier than his predecessors to hold the Ministry at a time when lakhs of crores of rupees were at his disposal following the depressed global crude oil prices. But he wasted the oil bonanza which "was waiting to be used imaginatively".

"The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better... But the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse," he added.

New Delhi: Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday said that the economic downturn which began in the last two years of the UPA II regime has bottomed out and the growth will improve in the next two quarters.

"...this downward cycle of economic growth began in the last two years of the UPA II government and that downward cycle in my view has bottomed out," opined Kumar.

"We will be achieving higher growth in the next two quarters, and I think 2018-19 will be much better than the current year (in terms of economic growth)," he said.