Ahead of the Union Budget, the Congress released its report on the economy, questioning the current quality of economic data and claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development model has led to jobless growth, which can’t be fixed until the Centre increases transparency, welcomes critique and acknowledges failures.
The report titled “Inequality on the rise, Welfare in Retreat: Real State of the Economy 2026” points out that the estimated GDP growth rate of 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal year has not resulted in gainful employment.
“The BJP government’s tenure has been marked by diminished confidence in India’s economic numbers due to concerns that the government manipulates official data to suit its political agendas,” the report said, noting how the IMF downgraded India’s GDP data to a C grade.
The report, published by the All India Congress Committee’s research department, highlighted the rupee-dollar exchange rate crossing the 90 mark and negative net FDI.
Household debt as a percentage of GDP increased to 41 per cent in FY24, and the average debt amount increased by 40 per cent since March 2021, the report added.
“Most of the job creation has been in the gig economy, that is poorly regulated, with workers complaining of exploitation. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant number of workers returned to farms in the face of job destruction in urban India,” the report adds.
“When the masses face poor economic prospects, empathetic governments strengthen welfare safety nets. The Modi government has instead chosen to dismantle the carefully constructed and impactful rights-based welfare framework established by the UPA government, ” it said.
At the release of the report, party research head and economist M. V. Rajeev Gowda said, “What happened to Make in India? Agriculture’s share rose from 44.1 per cent to 46.1 per cent...top 10 per cent own 65 per cent of India’s wealth; bottom half own 6.4 per cent; top 1 per cent own 40 per cent.
“Four out of five Indians subsist on less than ₹200 per day. One third subsist on less than ₹100/day. Net household financial savings are at a five-decade low of 5.2 per cent, household debt is sharply up to 41 per cent from 35 per cent in 2019,” he added.
