The Narendra Modi-led central government has failed to deliver on its promise of a double-digit growth in the last four years and it will not manage it even in the remaining six months of its term, Former finance minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday.
"This government promised a double-digit growth rate. They have not achieved that growth rate in any of the four years. And they will not achieve it in the last year also," he said at a press conference.
The senior Congress leader said there was a sense of crisis in every sector, be it banking, industry, construction or real-estate.
Chidambaram's remarks came a day after official data showed that India's GDP growth rate declined to 7.1 percent during the July-September quarter, compared to April-June's 8.2 percent.
Earlier, in a series of tweets, he said the GDP growth in Q2 of 2018-19 was a good 1 percent lower than in Q1.
He said the 8.2 percent growth rate in April-June quarter was on a very low base in the previous year and did not warrant the jubilation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Going forward, it is likely that Q3 and Q4 will register similar growth rates unless there are unexpected shocks. The new normal for the Indian economy is 7 percent and 2018-19 will be a normal year," Chidambaram said.
"More and more large companies are going bankrupt today than ever before. More and more projects are stranded than ever before. More and more accounts turned NPA (non-performing assets) than ever before. More banks have been restrained from lending than ever before. There is a sense of crisis everywhere," he told the media in poll-bound Rajasthan.
