Yashwant Sinha slams BJP government on misleading economy growth rate

Reviewing the economic situation in the last 12 years, Yashwant Sinha said domestic savings and investment have remained stable at 33 percent of GDP.

Yashwant Sinha expressed serious concern over the reliability of the country's economic data. (PTI file photo)

3 min readPuneJun 16, 2026 10:22 PM IST First published on: Jun 16, 2026 at 10:22 PM IST

Criticising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said the data on the economy presented by the Government is misleading and the real growth rate of the country is only around 2.7 percent and not 7.7 percent.

“Our growth rate was said to be 7.7 per cent, making India the fastest-growing economy in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said we should celebrate. However, according to some assessments, the actual growth rate is around 2.2 per cent. The economic figures being presented in the country do not correspond with the reality on the ground. False statistics are being reported and presented,” he alleged.

“It is not possible to make a proper analysis of the economy and formulate accurate policies without the real economic data of the country,” said Sinha speaking on the “Today’s Indian Economy”, an event organized by Pune City District Congress Committee in the city.

Sinha expressed serious concern over the reliability of the country’s economic data. He said, “In November 2025, the International Monetary Fund expressed its deep dissatisfaction with the method of collecting India’s economic data and gave India a ‘C’ grade. This is a matter of great shame for the country. There is a huge gap of 4 to 5 percent between the actual situation and the government data. If the original data is wrong, the country’s policies can never be properly formulated and their implementation also collapses. This government is only running on publicity and propaganda instead of work, and is taking care that the public does not get real information.”

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Reviewing the economic situation in the last 12 years, Sinha said domestic savings and investment have remained stable at 33 percent of GDP. The government is dreaming of making the country a ‘developed nation’ by 2047, but there is no clear definition of a developed country. For this, a growth rate of at least 8 percent is required every year, which is impossible due to the current economic policies.

In the last two years, foreign investment has not come into the country, on the contrary, Indian citizens are investing abroad for a secure future, he said.

On the agriculture sector, he said that the monsoon will decrease due to the effect of ‘El Nino’ and this will have an adverse effect on agricultural production. If the rural economy collapses, the entire economy of the country will be hit hard. Apart from this, India has not filed any complaint with the World Trade Organization against the additional taxes imposed by the US on Indians. Criticizing the Prime Minister, he said that Narendra Modi cannot speak in public without a teleprompter and has not held a single press conference in the last 12 years.

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that Sinha has a long administrative and political experience and his work as the country’s Finance Minister has been remarkable.

With PTI inputs