INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ramesh pointed out that as a share of total employment, manufacturing has marginally declined | (Photo: PTI)4 min read Last Updated : Oct
06 2024 | 11:04 AM IST
Asserting that the last 10 years have seen "highly detrimental economic trends", the Congress on Sunday said the
monsoon has receded but at least "three dark clouds" of languishing private sector investment, stagnating manufacturing and decline in real
wages and productivity for labourers, still loom over the Indian economy.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam
Ramesh said bombastic claims on the economy are being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his drumbeaters but what these claims conceal
are the choke points that will strangulate growth in the years to come if not taken seriously now, in a spirit of humility.
"The monsoon
But new evidence has shown that at least three dark clouds still loom over the Indian economy," Ramesh said in a statement.
"First, after
a brief surge in private sector investment during 2022-23 on the back of the COVID-19 recovery, investment has returned to an unsteady
path," he said.
New project announcements by the private sector fell by 21 per cent between FY23 and FY24, he pointed out.
"This
reflects a lack of investor confidence in India's consumer markets, and the uncertain investment climate generated by the Government's
inconsistent policy making and Raid Raj," he said.
In this context, rather than grow their businesses, companies are using profits to
economy, with India Inc - perhaps taking its cue from the government - focusing on stock market valuations rather than top-line revenue
growth," Ramesh said.
This bodes poorly for the medium- and long-term future of the Indian economy, as the growth engine of the economy -?
private sector investment - continues to languish, he said.
"Second, ten years after the Government's flagship Make in India scheme was
launched, India's manufacturing is stagnating
As share of GDP, manufacturing is the same as it was ten years ago," the Congress leader said.
Ramesh pointed out that as a share of total
employment, manufacturing has marginally declined.
India's share in global merchandise exports has also largely stagnated, and exports are
falling as a share of India's GDP, he said.
"In fact, growth in India's share of global exports grew much faster in the 2005-15 period,
largely corresponding to Dr
Manmohan Singh's tenure as Prime Minister
In labour-intensive sectors like garments, exports have fallen from $15 billion in 2013-14 to $14.5 billion in 2023-2024," he said.
This
shrinking of manufacturing is largely attributable to the PM's inexplicable trade policy - where it disincentivizes participation in global
value chains (GVCs) through high tariffs while silently permitting Chinese dumping of mass imports, Ramesh alleged.
"Third, the latest
Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) for 2022-2023 has revealed a decline in real wages and productivity for India's labourers.
The growth in
GVA per worker (a measure of labour productivity) slowed from 6.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 0.6 per cent by 2018-19," he said.
After Covid
era statistical irregularity, worker productivity contracted in FY23 again, Ramesh said, adding that this decrease in labour productivity
has impacted real wage growth, especially amidst rising inflation.
As real wages stagnate, consumption will remain weak - resulting in the
low investment that has been a consistent restraint on India's growth, he said.
"These are merely the issues that have surfaced in the
past few weeks but the last ten years have seen other highly detrimental economic trends, including rising oligopolisation, mass
unemployment, and high inflation," he said.
"Bombastic claims on the economy are being made by the non-biological PM and his drumbeaters
But what these claims conceal are the choke points that will strangulate growth in the years to come if not taken seriously now, in a spirit
of humility," Ramesh said in his statement.(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard
staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)First Published: Oct 06 2024 | 11:04 AMIST
