New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday said that she has been told that she is the worst finance minister.
“I have been told that I am the worst Finance Minister, they're not even waiting for me to finish my term. I told them that please give me more ideas, we will work on it. If there's a government that listens, it is PM Modi's government,” she said.
The Finance Minister recently drew flak for India’s worsening economic health. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate slipped to 4.5% for the July-September quarter of the ongoing financial year. This is the lowest since the January-March quarter of 2013.
The nominal GDP growth for the second quarter also fell to 6.1% as compared to 8% in the previous quarter. The GVA growth also dipped to 4.3% in comparison with 4.9% in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year.
Growth figures for the previous quarter had dipped to 5%, to an over six-year low. GVA growth too had fallen to 4.9% in the last quarter as compared with 6.9% in the same period last year.
The manufacturing sector also witnessed negative growth in the second quarter of the ongoing financial year. Once considered the backbone of the economy, the sector grew at -1% in the July-September quarter.
“I have been called names in Parliament. If it is in anyone's DNA to ask questions & run away before answers are given, it is some other party and not our party. Each time we come to give replies instead of name-calling,” she added.
Answering allegations by other Members of Parliament in the house, she said, “We're called 'suit-boot ki sarkaar' again & again. We're told that lowering corporate tax helps only rich. I want to tell them that corporate tax cut helps all small and big businesses registered according to Companies Act.”
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