Inequality on rise, welfare in retreat: Congress slams govt on state of economy

New Delhi: Ahead of the release of the Economic Survey and the presentation of the Union Budget, the Congress on Tuesday questioned the numbers the government has been presenting and claimed that "inequality is on the rise" with welfare in "retreat".

The opposition party's Research Department released a report on the state of the economy a day before the budget session of Parliament and said it was important to lay bare "facts" before the people as the government would roll out its "propaganda" through the President's address to both Houses, Economic Survey and the Union Budget.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) Research Department chairman Rajeev Gowda along with party colleague Amitabh Dubey released the party's flagship annual report, "Inequality on the rise, Welfare in Retreat -“ Real State of the Economy 2026".

Addressing a press conference with Dubey, Gowda wondered whether the Modi government's numbers can be believed.

"The IMF gave India's statistics a C grade. 0.5 per cent inflation rate is not the reality of people's lives. Former Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian calculates that GDP figures are at least 2.5 per cent higher than actual reality," he said.

In 2024, the government's production metric for GDP showed 9.2 per cent GDP growth, 47 per cent higher than GDP by expenditure metric of 4.9 per cent, Gowda said.

"In the first half of 2025-26, manufacturing reportedly grew at 8.4 per cent. But the Index of Eight Core Industries showed only 2.9 per cent growth," he said.

Gowda slammed the government over the falling value of the rupee, saying the rupee has been Asia's worst performing currency in 2025.

"In 4 of 10 months of 2025, net FDI was negative. More investors withdrew money and more Indian money was invested abroad compared to foreign investments into India," he said.

Between 2017-“18 and 2023-“24, share of workers in manufacturing fell from 12.1 per cent to 11.4 per cent, he said.

"What happened to Make in India? Agriculture's share rose from 44.1 per cent to 46.1 per cent... Job growth is concentrated in low value, informal, and gig economy," Gowda said.

Flagging the issue of "rising inequality", Gowda said the top 10 per cent capture 58 per cent of national income; the bottom half gets only 15 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," he said.

Gowda said 4 of 5 Indians subsist on less than Rs 200 per day. One third subsist on less than Rs 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," Gowda said.

People pay more direct tax than corporates - up from 38.1 per cent in FY14 to 53.4 per cent in FY24, he said.

Dubey said: "Growth that benefits only a few is not success. It is a warning sign. Rising inequality and shrinking welfare are the clearest markers of massive economic mismanagement." "But fundamentally good policy begins with honest data. We ask the government to place the real numbers before the country, not manipulated figures that mislead the people," he said.

Dubey also flagged "failures" of the Make in India initiative by pointing to the decline in manufacturing and the challenges faced by MSMEs.

He said the poor people's biggest support was MGNREGA which is now "under assault" from the Modi government.