Govt failed to push growth: Manmohan

Narendra Modi government faces a “crises of confidence” as it failed to accelerate economic growth despite the situation being more favourable than in the UPA regime, former PM Manmohan Singh said. 

Though Modi describes India as the only bright spot in the gloomy investment climate, Singh, in an interview to India Today, attributed the continuing sluggishness in domestic investment to “lack of confidence” in the current regime.  Confusion among business community over “who is the boss” and persistence of ‘tax terrorism’ from the previous regime cloud the prospects of better fiscal health, Singh said. 

“The economy is not in a good shape as it could be, despite the fact that the situation today is much more favourable than it was when we, the Congress-led UPA, were in government,” Dr Singh said.  

“Oil prices had at the time gone up to $ 150 a barrel, today they are close to $ 30 a barrel. This has significantly helped India’s balance of payments, the current account deficit has come down, it has helped the government reduce the fiscal deficit, and in the hands of a purposeful government, this could be an opportunity to step up investment in a big way,” Singh said.