Rahul Chimanbhai Mehtaidambaram and Modi: Close encounters with facts blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes/headon/entry/upa-vs-nda-setting-the-economic-record-straight 1.GDP growth: Average GDP growth in 1998-2004 (NDA) was 6% a year. Average annual GDP growth in 2004-13 (UPA), up to June 30, 2013, was 7.9%. 2. Current Account Deficit: 2004: (+) $7.36 billion (surplus). 2013: (-) $80 billion. The winner here is clearly NDA. It ran a current account surplus in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Under UPA this dipped into deficit from 2006 and has spun downwards since. 3. Trade deficit: 2004: (-) $13.16 billion. 2013: (-) $180 billion. Again, advantage NDA. 4. Fiscal deficit: 2004: 4.7% of GDP. 2013: 4.8% of GDP. Not much to choose between the two. 5. Inflation: 1998-2004: 5%. 2004-2013: 9% (Both figures are averaged out over their respective tenures). Advantage again to NDA. Inflation under NDA was on average half that under UPA, leading to the RBI’s controversial tight money policy, high interest rates and rising EMIs. 6. External Debt: March 2004: $111.6 billion. March 2013: $390 billion. The UPA suffers badly in this comparision, a result of lack of confidence in India’s economy and currency following retrospective tax legislation and other regressive policies, especially during UPA-2. 7. Jobs: 1999-2004: 60 million new jobs created. 2004-11: 14.6 million jobs created. Clearly, the UPA’s big failure has been jobless growth – a bad electoral omen. 8. Rupee: 1998-2004: Variation: Rs. 39 to 49 per $. 2004-13: Variation: Rs. 39 to 68 per $. (Rupee rose from 40-plus to 39 between October 2007 and April 2008.) The NDA government’s economic and fiscal policies, despite the various crises of 1998-2000 pointed out earlier, evoked more global confidence, leading to a relatively stable rupee (Rs. 10 variation) compared to the Rs. 29 variation during UPA’s tenure. 9. HDI: 2004: India was ranked 123rd globally on the human development index (HDI) in 2004, with a score of 0.453. 2013: India has slipped 13 places to 136th globally on the HDI in 2013 with a score of 0.554. 10. Subsidies: 2004: Rs. 44,327 crore. 2013: Rs. 2,31,584 crore. Here again, profligate welfarism, as the ADBI report quoted earlier shows, has led to a rising subsidy bill. Worse, a significant amount is siphoned off by a corrupt nexus of politicians, officials and middlemen.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 22:47:50 +0000
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