No jobs, soaring inflation, ex-FM slams govt economic policies
Amid ongoing debates over India’s economic trajectory, senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said India’s economy is on autopilot and would not go into a recession even if there’s no government in India.
He said this during a press briefing after releasing the ‘Real State of the Economy 2025’ report prepared by former party MP and also head of Congress research team Rajeev Gowda and his team. He also slammed the Union Government for slowdown in the economy with “no jobs, high inflation rate, wages are stagnating and huge income inequality”.
“We will continue to grow at 4-5 per cent due to the contributions of farmers, workers and small industries that produce foodgrains, goods and services. The real question is how much beyond this baseline the government can push economic growth. While government policies have added about 1.5-2 per cent to the inherent growth rate, but that’s not sufficient,” he added.
“If India is to encash its historic demographic dividend, sustained GDP growth of at least 8 per cent is necessary. Unfortunately, over the last few years India has consistently failed to achieve these targets,” he said.
Citing examples, he added, “We are indeed the fastest-growing economy in the world, but please remember this, growing at 2.7 per cent last year, the US added $787 billion to its GDP in that one year. Meanwhile, China grew last year at 4.91per cent, and it added $895 billion to its GDP. We are growing at a faster rate, but we add only $256 billion to our GDP, as our base is small. So, we actually need to see the addition to the GDP and not compare the growth rates.”
Meanwhile, Chidambaram, slammed the Union Government on slow economic growth, unemployment crisis, stagnancy in wages, rising inequality and inflation.
“The economy is experiencing a slowdown, which is undeniable. There are no jobs, and youth unemployment stood at a staggering 45.4 per cent in 2022-23. Practically, every second person is jobless. There are no jobs despite the PM handing out letters to people from time to time. That is just filling of vacant posts and does not involve creation of new jobs,” he said.
Expressing concern over the rising inflation, Chidambaram said wages have stagnated for the last four-five years.
“In 2024, the cost of a home-cooked vegetarian meal rose by 10 per cent. From 2009-14, under UPA-II, wages grew by 8.6 per cent for farm workers and 6 per cent for non-farm workers. In contrast, during PM Modi’s tenure, farm wage growth fell to -0.6 per cent and non-farm wages saw a decline of -1.4 per cent making it even more difficult for people to cope with inflation,” he added.
Noting that there is huge income inequality, Chidambaram said he does concede that the top 20-30 per cent may be better off, but the rest of the 70 per cent, the bottom half, is living on Rs 100-150 a day.
“There is huge inequality and that gap between the rich and the poor is growing. The government has done nothing to deal with it,” he said.
