Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India enjoys an investment grade rating and she does not see a rating downgrade because of higher spending. She cited low inflation, higher GDP growth, record foreign investment and lower fiscal deficit to defend her government's handling of the economy.
Sitharaman stated that the measures taken in response to the 2008 global financial crisis by the UPA led to high inflation and 'taper tantrums’. She also said average GDP growth between 2014 to 2019 was 7.5 percent as against 6.7 percent during 2009 to 2014 under UPA. Similarly, she said consumer price inflation was 10.3 percent under five years of UPA rule, while during 2014-19 it was 4.8 percent.
The minister further indicated that fiscal deficit too has been contained at 3.65 percent of the GDP during 2014-19 as compared to 5.3 percent in the previous five years and current account deficit has also improved from (-)3.34 percent to (-)1.43 percent. She noted that foreign exchange reserves have grown from $303 billion in 2014 to $411.9 billion and NPAs or bad debt declined to Rs 8.99 lakh crore as of March 2020.
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