Despite the country’s economy being in a fragile state under the previous government till 2013-14, India is now headed towards becoming the third largest soon, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.
“From its fragile state of economy under UPA, India has reached to become the 5th largest economy. We are soon heading towards becoming the 3rd largest economy,” Sitharaman said in her reply to the discussion on the White Paper on the Indian Economy in Lok Sabha.
India is currently the fifth largest economy in the world, after the US, China, Japan and Germany.
Her comments came a day after the BJP government released the ‘White Paper’ on the Indian economy, which highlighted both how the country prospered under 10 years of PM Modi's rule and the "lost decade" under the Congress-led UPA government.
“The white paper is a serious document with documentary evidence placed in the House with the intent to bring transparency. Supreme Court verdicts and CAG reports are included in the white paper to document evidence. Nothing in the white paper is baseless, but based on evidence,” she said.
Nirmala Sitharaman said that in 2015-16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that there were suggestions to bring out a white paper on the state of the economy then, but was held back in the national interests as it would have scared away investors.
Under the current government, a major boost to defence manufacturing and timely environmental clearances has given a boost to the economy, she said.
“India’s defence production is currently over Rs 1 lakh crore while exports are at Rs 16,000 crore to 85 countries,” the minister stated.
For faster environmental clearances, which were stuck during the UPA regime, the current government has brought in transparency, online, timely and standardised approvals, she said.
Meanwhile, 7 lakh employment has been generated via the production-linked incentive schemes in 14 sectors, which have brought in Rs 1.07 lakh crore actual investment, Sitharaman said.
Enforcement
Going big on enforcement under the BJP government, the Enforcement Directorate has convicted 58 persons, 24 red corner notices have been issued, 12 people have been declared as fugitives and four persons are being extradited, she said.
Launching an attack on the UPA regime, she said that leadership was the core issue during the Congress-led central government regime before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
"Leadership was the core issue behind UPA mismanagement. Governance was under pressure because of extra-constitutional authority granted to Sonia Gandhi, which was unaccountable and unanswerable power,” she said.
Nirmala Sitharaman further said the National Advisory Council (NAC) was a non-constitutional body that was running a kitchen cabinet and pointed out that the planning commission had rejected funding for UIDAI during the UPA regime.
The UPA government had rejected the Aadhar rollout and the BJP government was the one to implement it, she reminded, and added, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aadhaar authenticated direct benefit transfer saved Rs 2.7 lakh crore of the government”.
The Narendra Modi government on February 8 tabled the much-talked-about white paper in the Lok Sabha, detailing the state of the economy under the Congress-led UPA government's 10-year tenure and how the NDA set about turning it around.
The document on economic mismanagement aimed to settle the long-standing debate on the ‘issue of the economy’ once and for all before the Lok Sabha elections.
Right before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled a copy of the 'White Paper on the Indian economy' in Lok Sabha on the economic performance during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's 10-year tenure, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge released a 'Black Paper' to target the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government.
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