BENGALURU: Union minister for home and cooperation Amit Shah on Thursday claimed that the rupee’s slide against the dollar, touching Rs 80, and the inflation in the country should be viewed from a global perspective.
Admitting that inflation and price rise is being widely discussed in the country, Shah said India cannot be taken as an isolated case and that a lot of developed and developing nations are facing a similar concern in the aftermath of the Pandemic.
“It is no excuse for the current price rise but it is a global concern. Compared to countries like the United States, whose inflation was at 2-2.8%, today it is at 9.8%, Turkey is at 73.5%, Argentina is at 58% and Brazil is at 12.3%. However, India is at 7.1%,” said Shah.
Later, the union minister also spoke of the same prism to be used to view the falling rupee value.
“Once again, considering that even the value of rupee is being widely talked about, we have to take into account a global perspective with Europe, Japan, Britain, Brazil and China all facing similar drop in their currency valuation,” he said.
Earlier, Shah said the Narendra Modi government had ensured that in the post-Covid world a robust GDP growth could be witnessed.
“When you compare to other countries, India’s growth has been extremely good with 7.4 GDP growth. While the US is at 2.3%, Germany saw a 1.2% growth. And, if you consider them as saturated economies, then look at China which is growing at 3.3% while Brazil is at 1.5%,” he claimed.
He said prior to the BJP government at the centre, people would speak of a policy paralysis and every day scams emerging in the newspapers.
“People would wake up to Rs 12 lakh crore scams in the previous government with the CBI, CVC and even the SC trying to unearth them. Crony capitalism was at its peak and inflation was at its height. Even the fiscal deficit situation was out of control and the ease of doing business ranking was at its low. Our international image was at its worst. However, all that changed with the Modi government coming to power 8 years ago with a historic win,” he claimed.
He alleged that once upon a time there was a situation when the prime minister never considered himself as the PM and every minister in his cabinet considered himself to be the PM.
“People never knew who was running the government and from where. So now, when I look back at the 8 years (since the Modi government came to power), I am proud to say that India is today a financially strong country and its image on the international stage was strengthened,” he said.
Shah went on to add that the BJP Government was able to collect as much as Rs 1.68 lakh crore in GST and that no one can take India lightly.
“And with our foundation laid in the last 8 years, I am certain that no one can discount the financial prowess of the country in the next 25 years,” he claimed.
The union minister also urged the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to form a team of its own to study the new education policy (NEP) as it would directly impact the employment situation in the nation.
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“The Indian economy, compared to the situation prevailing in many of our peer groups & in many of developed economies, is definitely much better,” the Finance Minister said in Rajya Sabha.