'GOVT SHOULD INTROSPECT' - Raghuram Rajan Questions Modi Govt: 7% Growth, But No Jobs?
The former RBI governor said “a revamp” was needed “to really figure out what India’s true growth rate is”.
NEW DELHI—Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan Tuesday expressed doubts over Indian economy growing at 7 per cent when not enough jobs were being created and said the current cloud over the GDP numbers must be cleared by appointing an impartial body to look at the data.
Rajan, who has also served as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said he had no idea what statistics are pointing at currently and “a revamp” was needed “to really figure out what India’s true growth rate is”.
“I know one minister (in the Narendra Modi government) has said (that) how can we be growing at 7 per cent and not have jobs. Well, one possibility is that we are not growing at 7 per cent,” he told CNBC TV18.
He did not name the minister.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been stoutly defending the growth data saying an economy cannot be growing at 7-8% without creating jobs. He has also stated that no major social agitation indicates it hasn’t been jobless growth.
Rajan, who was Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor between September 2013 and September 2016, said a stronger broad-based growth is needed that creates more jobs.
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