India’s economy is fastest growing, rupee strong against every currency: Nirmala Sitharaman

Vibha Sharma 

New Delhi, December 12

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that India’s economy is fastest growing and that it was sad that some people in Parliament continued to raise doubts because they were “jealous of country’s increasing economy”.

In response to a question on currency devaluation and foreign exchange reserve, the FM also said the Indian rupee was strong against all currencies and the country’s foreign reserves were growing.

“Look at the data of growing FDIs and FIIs in the country before criticism,” she told the Opposition members raising questions on India’s economy and related issues. 

“The Indian rupee has been strong against every currency. Reserve Bank has used foreign exchange reserves that it has to intervene in the market to make sure that the Dollar-Rupee fluctuation does not go too much.

“It is sad that some people in Parliament are jealous of country’s increasing economy. India has the fastest-growing economy but opposition has a problem with it. Everyone should be proud of India’s growth but some people take it as a joke,” she said, accusing Opposition members behaving with jealousy.

Retaliating, AR Reddy of Congress (Telangana) claimed that the FM said “bad things” about him because his language was “not so good because he was from a lower caste,” leading to vociferous protests from Treasury Benches.

Speaker Om Birla cautioned the MPs to speak with care.

“Members do not come here on basis of caste or religion,” Birla said, cautioning action against members who try to insinuate such things.