The UPA-II Government, led by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, continues to be a “strong, decisive” Government which, despite odds, would improve the economy and control inflation, the Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said here on Wednesday.
Replying to the criticism levelled by the IT czars, Mr Azim Premji and Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, he told newspersons that India has seen continued economic progress, although it “somewhat slowed down” in recent past but the UPA-II was determined to go ahead with its reforms agenda.
Asked about the latest warning of Standard & Poor's, Mr Chidambaram said, “we tend to overreact to rating agencies' observations. Some of them have had a very poor record in the past. Theirs is not the final word on economies and the challenges they face.”
Mr Chidambaram remarked that India was not facing a 1991-like economic crisis nor the one faced by some Asian countries in 1997. “We are absolutely confident that our high growth path would soon be restored.”
Citing statistics, he said India's strong fundamentals and resilience enabled the country to bounce back from the 2008 global economic deceleration which returned the UPA to power at the Centre in 2009.
Despite the European crisis, high crude oil prices and volatility in commodity markets, a 6.5 per cent growth was achieved in 2011-12. And despite fiscal and current account deficits, all 15 flagship programmes of UPA-II have continued across India and per capita income has risen.
“We now have an unprecedented stock of 5.45 crore tonnes of foodgrains. Our foreign tourist revenue has gone up from $14.5 billion to $16.5 billion in the last two years. Only two large economies, India and China, are still growing. India continues to be a high investment country with 35 per cent of national income invested. Our FDI has increased from $41.09 billion to $46.85 billion in the last two fiscal years.
Indian companies are now fifth globally in their net overseas budgets and India's exports have grown from 5.3 per cent of GDP to 20 per cent in eight years.
“The UPA-II created 12 crore jobs through MNREGA etc. These are indicators of Indian economy's strengths.”