Political Exchange: Expert discuss getting growth on track for the economy

The claim of a slowdown in the automobile sector was made to "defame" the country, a BJP member said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and wondered how it could be true when there were traffic jams on roads.

Participating in a debate on agriculture, Virendra Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Balia in Uttar Pradesh, said there were many households that had multiple cars and there were traffic jams on roads as he questioned the claims of a slowdown in the auto sector. There was no slowdown in the auto sector and those making such claims were trying to defame the country, he said.

According to the latest data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle (PV) sales increased by 0.28 per cent to 2,85,027 units in October, from 2,84,223 units in the corresponding period last year. Passenger vehicle wholesales declined for the 11th consecutive month in the country in September.

Several BJP leaders have put forward a variety of arguments to rebut the opposition's attack on the government over the state of the economy. Union minister Suresh Angadi had last month said "airports and trains are full and people are getting married" and this indicated that the country's economy was "doing fine".

Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP spokesperson said, "The economic growth, GDP growth rate currently is a challenge for the country and for the party. We accept that challenge as a government. There is a challenge in some of the sectors like automobile, textile and telecom. The government is aware of those challenges and is meeting them taking the corrective measures."

He further added, "I agree with the governor of RBI that monetary policies have an important role but it is not all that it can do. Rate cut has been continuously done by RBI and now we have a repo rate of 5.15 percent, which is quite low. Currently, the complete transmission of the rate cut by the RBI has not taken place due to various reasons in the economy and that we also need fiscal measures. Government at present is working on increasing the demand for credit."