Yashwant Sinha refuses to second Govt's gaga over GDP

New Delhi [India] Nov. 30 (ANI): Former Finance Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Thursday refused to second the Centre's gaga over the improved the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates in the second quarter.

Data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) on Thursday shows India's GDP growth has recovered to 6.3 percent in the second quarter from a three-year low of 5.7 percent in first quarter.

Sinha, who in the past has also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) economic policies, took to Twitter to train his guns at the government.

"Agri production has declined sharply, manufacturing has fallen, construction is down yet wait to see how we go gaga over this figure of growth," Sinha tweeted.

He further said India's GDP needs to grow at 8 percent to 10 percent to create jobs for the youth.

"India must grow at 8% to 10% to create the jobs we need for our youth. But let us celebrate 6.3% as a great achievement of our government. All our problems now stand resolved," he said sarcastically in the second tweet.

Sinha's scathing attack on the government came after Union Finance Minster Arun Jaitley hoped that the GDP will further improve in the coming quarters.

"Demonetisation and GST's (Goods and Services Tax) impact is behind us. The economy now seems to have weathered the transitional challenges experienced earlier in the year and hopefully in coming quarters, we can look for an upwards trajectory," Jaitley said.

He further added that "encouragingly, the rate of growth of gross fixed capital formation has also increased from 1.6 percent in the first quarter to 4.7 percent in the second quarter. Real private consumption growth has broadly held steady at 6.5 percent".

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia also said the GDP number may go up when it is finally revised.

Sinha's sour relations with his party led Union Government are not new.

On September 28, Sinha described the implementation of the GST from July 1 as the second major blow to the Indian economy after demonetisation. (ANI)