Economy Has Plunged into Deep Crisis, Says Congress

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The Congress on Friday said that the "economy has plunged into deep crisis" in the 21 months of Narendra Modi government with a decline in GDP, increase in bad loans of banks and rupee on a "downward slide."

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the government seems "clueless" about reviving the economy.

"They seem to move from one slogan and event to another without attempting to address the real crisis at hand. Slogans like Make in India', 'Digital India' andSkill India' have turned out to be nothing but hollow slogans in order to befool people of India by diverting attention," he said.

Singhvi said that India's GDP growth slowed down to 7.3 percent in the third quarter from a revised 7.7 percent in the preceding September quarter, the lowest in the three-quarters of this fiscal.

He said 29 state-owned banks wrote off Rs 1.14 lakh crore bad debts between 2013 and 2015, much more than they had done in the last 9 years.

Singhvi said investors were dumping shares of state-run banks which account for close to 90 percent of banking sector's "troubled assets" of nearly $100 billion.

The rupee, which was Rs 58.5 to a dollar when Narendra Modi government assumed office, had slid to Rs.68.38 to a dollar.

Singhvi also said the market sentiment had also come down.

"The prime minister has systematically undermined all good work done by the previous UPA government," he said.