Economic Slowdown Usual During ‘Saawan-bhado’: Sushil Modi’s Bizarre Logic to Justify Poor GDP

New Delhi: Deputy chief minister and finance minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday accused the opposition parties of trying to create panic over what he claimed was a recurring “cyclic” slowdown in the economy during the months of “saawan-bhado” .

"Usually every year there is a cyclic slowdown in the economy during saawan-bhado (the fifth and sixth months in the Hindu calendar), but this time some political parties are creating noise over it to vent their frustration after the loss in elections," Sushil Modi said in a tweet.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) in its official release on Friday said that India's quarterly GDP has come down to 5 per cent as compared to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the financial year. The figure stood at 7.8 per cent in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress, have blamed the Narendra Modi government for failing to control the dip in manufacturing and agriculture sectors.

However, Bihar deputy chief minister said the country has no reason to worry as appropriate measures have been taken to control the economic slowdown.

"Central government's announcement of 32-point relief package and the merger of 10 banks will increase the lending capacity of banks whose effects will be visible in the next trimester," his tweet read.

"The slowdown has not affected Bihar, there is no fall in sales of vehicles here. The Centre is soon going to announce the third package," he added.

Cutting down FY20 GDP growth to 6.7 per cent (six-year low) from its earlier forecast of 7.3 per cent, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) on August 28 said that the current fiscal would be the third consecutive year of subdued growth. It attributed the lacklustre performance primarily to a slowdown in consumption demand, delayed monsoon, decline in manufacturing and rising global trade tensions affecting exports.

"Even on a quarterly basis, 1Q FY20 is expected to be the fifth consecutive quarter of declining GDP growth as Ind-Ra expects it to come in at 5.7 per cent," the Fitch Group firm said in its report.