"Darkest Year In Over 4 Decades": P Chidambaram Slams Government On GDP

On Monday GDP numbers released by the government showed the economy had contracted by 7.3 per cent over FY20/21- its worst performance in over four decades

FY 2020/21 was "the darkest year of the economy in four decades" - one that resulted in record negative growth and left "most Indians poorer than they were two years ago" - Congress MP P Chidambaram said Tuesday, shredding the government over its handling of the country's finances. Mr Chidambaram also slammed the government for misleading the people - a reference to the "green shoots" claims of the Finance Ministry in July last year, after the first wave peaked. He said the Congress had then called for measures like direct cash injections, but its pleas went unheard. "2020/21 has been the darkest year of the economy in four decades. The performance in the four quarters tells the story... the first two witnessed a recession (-24.4 and -7.4 per cent)... performance in the third and fourth quarters did not herald a recovery," Mr Chidambaram said. He said (marginally) positive Q3 and Q4 rates - 0.5 and 1.6 per cent - should be seen in the context of "a very low base of 3.3 and 3.0 per cent in the corresponding quarters of the previous year".