Jairam Ramesh criticised the central government on the GDP report, saying it failed to “boost private investment in manufacturing”

The Central government was criticized on Monday by a Congress MP and the party’s General Secretary (Communications) for not doing enough to “boost private investment in manufacturing,” as the Indian economy slowed to 5.4% in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal year 2024-25, according to the quarterly GDP growth report.

“The GDP growth rate fell sharply, according to the GDP growth statistics for the July–September 2024 quarter that were issued three days ago. “The Modi Government’s inability to increase private investment in manufacturing is ultimately to blame for these disheartening results,” Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.

“The reality differs from the rhetoric around tax breaks and production-linked incentives. In his remark, the Congress leader said, “Made in India has just turned into Make-Believe in India.”

Additionally, he emphasized that the GDP growth report noted that manufacturing growth had also fallen to a “shocking 2.2 per cent.”

The fact that industrial growth fell to an alarming 2.2% is as significant and worrisome. At the same time, export growth has slowed to 2.8%. The Prime Minister’s ten-year pledge to establish India as a new global center for manufacturing exports is belied by the facts, according to his statement.

The Congress MP said that exports and manufacturing are really struggling even though the national government’s main Make in India program was introduced a decade ago.

“The unfortunate reality is that ten years after the Government’s flagship Make in India scheme was launched, India’s manufacturing is stagnating, and our exports are faltering,” he said.

He pointed out that the manufacturing sector’s share of India’s GDP decreased from 18.1% in 2011–12 to 14.3% in 2022–23.
He said that unemployment has also declined, with manufacturing employment dropping from 51.3 million in 2017 to 35.65 million in 2022–2023.

pointing out that, notably, exports in the apparel industry have decreased from $15 billion to $14.5 billion between 2013 and 2022, while Bangladesh and Vietnam have overtaken India in this regard.

“In the all-important employment-intensive sectors like garments, exports have fallen from $15 billion in 2013-14 to $14.5 billion in 2023-2024 and India has been lefty way behind by countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam,” he said.

He went on to discuss how Chinese imports are ruining Indian manufacturing, claiming that more than one-third of MSMEs in the stainless steel industry had shuttered as a result of the imports.

“In sector after sector evidence has piled up on how continued cheap imports from China are destroying Indian manufacturing–over a third of MSMEs in the stainless steel production industry in Gujarat alone are lying closed on account of such imports from China,” he said.

He compared the country’s part of worldwide exports to that of the preceding ten years and claimed that under Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister, the exports were in “much better shape,” with the country’s “share of global exports grew much faster in the 2005-15 period.”

Real GDP is expected to reach Rs 44.10 lakh crore in Q2 of 2024–25, up from Rs 41.86 lakh crore in Q2 of 2023–24, according to a study by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation that was made public on Friday. This represents a modest growth rate of 5.4%. Compared to the RBI’s prediction of 7% growth, the quarterly growth was much lower. India’s growth in the same quarter last year was 8.1%.