Economy on back foot, Centre has no strategy to improve it: Digvijaya Singh

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], Nov 29 (ANI): After the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country fell down to 4.5 per cent in Q2 of the current financial year, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday said that the country's economy was facing a slump and the government had no strategy to improve it.
"The economy is on the back foot and the current government has no strategy to improve the economy. Inflation is on the rise, people are not getting employment and the investments are not coming," Singh told reporters here.
"This chaotic situation has been formed due to the implementation of the GST and demonetisation. A couple of days back a debate took place in the Rajya Sabha on the state of the economy and Modiji or the Finance Minister had no solution to improve the country's economy," he added.
India's economic growth slowed to 4.5 per cent in the July to September quarter from 7.1 per cent in the corresponding period of last year, the government data showed on Friday.
The economy had a weak performance last quarter with the GDP growth rate dropping to 5 per cent.
The slowdown in Q2 FY20 was largely due to a sharp dip in the manufacturing sector and agriculture output, said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement.
The weak GDP growth in Q2 was also caused by grim industrial output data which contracted 0.4 per cent during the quarter against 3 per cent expansion in the preceding three months.
Heavy rainfall in August and September along with a delayed withdrawal of the monsoon constrained activities in the mining and construction sectors.
It also contributed to lower demand for electricity from the agricultural and household sectors.
In addition, muted industrial activity reduced the demand for electricity generation.
Meanwhile, the eight-core industries recorded 5.8 per cent decline in October from the 5.2 per cent decline seen in September, said the government data.
"The combined index of eight core industries stood at 127 in October 2019 which declined by 5.8 per cent as compared to the index of October 2018. Its cumulative growth during April to October 2019-20 was 0.2 per cent," according to an official statement by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The index of eight core industries comprises coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, cement, electricity, fertiliser, and refinery products. The index makes up 40.27 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). (ANI)