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Jairam Ramesh talks to media after meeting Chief of Election Commission at Election Commission of India office in New Delhi on October 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Expressing concern over the economic trends emerging from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) October bulletin, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that a vast majority of Indians are suffering because of economic “mismanagement” by the BJP-led Centre.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the October bulletin “shows extremely concerning economic trends” as inflationary trends have remained above the RBI’s threshold level of 4%.
Inflation out of control
“Inflation remains out of control at 6.8%, way above the RBI’s target of 4%. The RBI raised the issue of ‘sustained inflationary pressures in cereals, pulses, and spices’. The vast majority of Indians continue to face the pressure of price rise on their incomes, finding it difficult to meet basic food, education and other necessities,” Mr Ramesh said in a statement.
He said in the September bulletin, a range of negative indicators were revealed, including a 47-year low in the savings growth rate, a stagnation of domestic credit to the private sector and a flat labour-force participation rate.
Personal loans explosion
“These trends either remain or have worsened: A major reason for the low net savings growth is that there was a huge spike in household liabilities. Despite the finance ministry’s misleading claim that this spike is due to home and vehicle loans, the September bulletin clearly showed there was a 23% spike in gold loans and a 29% spike in personal loans,” Mr Ramesh said in a statement.
“The October RBI bulletin confirms this fact – personal loans were the single largest contributor to bank credit growth in August 2023, and grew at a massive 23%, while gold loans grew at 22%. Each month’s RBI bulletin should serve as a reminder to the Modi government that as much as it tries to hide data and mislead the public, the basic facts do not lie – the economy has been completely mismanaged and the vast majority of Indians are suffering,” he added.
The Congress leader said for the last 15 months, non-housing personal loans have been growing at over 20% — something that has never happened in at least 15 years. Credit growth to the industrial sector, which is essential for investment and economic growth, is slowing down.
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