By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: Congress Spokesperson Vikram Choudhary, in a strongly worded statement on Satuday, criticised the Central Government for projecting what he described as “unrealistic and misleading” economic claims. Choudhary said the government’s proclamation of 8.2% GDP growth and inflation falling to 0.25% paints an image of India “leaping past China while achieving Swiss-level price stability”, a narrative he termed economically implausible.
Choudhary argued that while the government is celebrating record growth figures, key indicators from the corporate sector tell a sharply different story. In the same quarter in which GDP was claimed to be soaring, FMCG giant HUL reported less than 1% growth in sales, loan disbursals at HDFC Bank rose only 4%, and even State Bank of India recorded negligible expansion. He added that Adani Enterprises, often seen as a favoured conglomerate, registered a 6% decline in business.
He further alleged that recent stock market stability was artificial, maintained through large-scale buying by LIC and other government-linked financial institutions to counter heavy selling by Foreign Institutional Investors, a weakening rupee, poor quarterly results, and negative global cues.
Choudhary highlighted that the International Monetary Fund recently downgraded India’s data reliability rating to C-grade, citing significant methodological inconsistencies and gaps in capturing the informal sector. According to him, this raises serious questions about the credibility of India’s growth statistics.
He added that India’s rising fiscal deficit, increasing dependence on external borrowing, stagnant exports, widening trade deficit and persistent unemployment undermine the government’s claims of robust economic growth. Despite headline GDP figures, India’s per-capita purchasing power continues to lag globally, reflecting limited improvement in citizens’ real economic conditions.
Choudhary concluded that India is witnessing “two parallel economies”—one flourishing on paper and another where inflation, joblessness and declining living standards remain stark realities.
