Economy was not in a good shape under Manmohan Singh: Naidu

New Delhi: Hitting back at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said the economy was not in a good shape during his tenure and it was the NDA government which took India to over seven per cent growth and made the poor a part of development process.

Naidu said inflation has been brought down to its lowest and India has become an attractive destination for investors under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the country now having the “highest” foreign exchange reserves. He also said that with more people coming in the tax net after demonetisation, the tax rates are automatically likely to come down.

Yesterday, Singh had attacked the Modi government and said that the Indian economy is not in a good state, noting that even IMF has downgraded country’s GDP growth and it will not be 7.6 per cent but less than 6.6 per cent.

“The country’s economy was not in a good shape under his (Singh’s) tenure. We have inherited fiscal deficit, revenue deficit, and current account deficit.

“From there, we have made an improvement and taken the country to seven per cent plus growth, highest foreign exchange, lowest inflation and what else you require,” Naidu told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

He said that under the NDA regime, transformation is happening with speed and the poor, for the first time in country, have started feeling that they are also part of the developmental process.

“We have already said that demonetisation is a radical step taken by the Prime Minister. This is a short term pain, but long term gain and bitter pill for long term ill because the country is suffering with all these ills due to all the wrong policies of previous government.

“That is why bitter pill is administrated and, temporarily, it will have side effect, but after-effects are going to be very good,” the minister also said.

He claimed that economy will improve and in a good sign, prices have already started coming down.

“Inflation has come down and contrary to the propaganda, the Rabi sowing has also increased over last year even after the demonetisation. Industries are also picking up.

“In long term, the country will have a sound economy and the tax net is getting increased. More and more people are coming into the tax net. This will increase the revenue and the tax rates are automatically likely to come down…and then taxpaying people will be happy,” Naidu added.