'Modi is busy distributing toffees': Congress calls for 'radical reset' in economic policymaking

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday called for a "radical reset" in economic policymaking, claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "managing elections" through Chief Election Commissioner "Gyanesh" Kumar but what India "urgently" needs is "new Gyan" (new insight) on the economy.

General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that the "sentiment" on the Indian economy has "taken such a downturn" that even the Modi government's "professional cheerleaders" have "begun to give public expression to their concerns".

Modi is "busy distributing toffees and engaging in pious pleas to the public but the ground is "slipping beneath the country’s feet", he said while calling for a radical reset in economic policymaking.

"...But the Modi Government has run out of ideas – other than the usual self-glorification. The Prime Minister is managing elections through Gyanesh but urgently needs new Gyan on the economy," he said, referring to Modi gifting a packet of 'Melody' toffees to his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and his appeal to citizens for austerity following the West Asia crisis.

He said inflation forecasts are "sharply up" while growth projections are "appreciably down", FDI continues to "shrink" and supply chains have been so "gravely mismanaged" that the Prime Minister has now gone on record asking consumers to reduce their consumption.

He said Congress has been voicing the concerns for some time, the most important of which relates to the “tepid investment climate”. Economic growth cannot be accelerated and sustained at higher levels, without a significant increase in the rate of private investment, he said.

Ramesh claimed that private investment has not increased because real wages have been "stagnating thereby suppressing growth" in consumption across income categories and in the absence of consumer demand, there is no incentive for India Inc to invest.

He also cited the "prevailing atmosphere of fear and business uncertainty" in the investment community caused by policy flip-flops, administrative orders, tax notices, raids and threats of raids by tax and investigative agencies and the "continued dumping" of imports from China that has “wrecked demand” for local goods across the manufacturing sector.

Ramesh highlighted the "growing concentration" of ownership, aided by government-enabled takeovers by Modi’s "closest friends" and alleged "Modani" is the "shining example of this cronyism".

There is “little incentive for corporates to invest independently and accept the risk that comes alongside it when profits can be successfully reaped from making a payment to the Modi Government’s ‘Chanda Lo, Dhandha Do’ business counter,”, he said.

“Corporate India’s tax rates are at record lows and its earnings are at record highs. Stock market valuations appear buoyant. Yet, investment momentum is conspicuously absent and those who are in a position to invest are relocating and/or investing abroad in increasing numbers,” he said.

Grand investment announcements continue to be made but how many of these intentions get converted into actual assets on the ground is open to "serious question", Ramesh added.