The Congress said here on Tuesday that the debt burden of every Indian had gone up by ₹27,200 over the past five years, and asked the Narendra Modi government to address this concern in the Union Budget as citizens could not pay for the ‘mistakes and incompetence of the government’.
As part of the party’s special series of press conferences on the economy, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said that while India’s total debt increased by over 71% in the past five-and-a-half years, the per capita gross domestic product increased by only 30%. He asked the Modi government to address the concern in this Budget.
“They have come to power with the promise of putting ₹15 lakh in every bank account, but instead gave a debt of over ₹27,000 to every citizen,” hw said.
The Congress said the government’s data showed that in March 2014, the total debt was ₹53.11 lakh crore, whereas in September 2019, the same had increased to ₹91.01 lakh crore, a net increase of ₹37.9 lakh crore in absolute terms.
“We ask the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, ‘there is no increase in income, no employment, no new investment. How will we bear the burden of this increasing debt?’ Also, why should the people of India bear the burden of the failures of the BJP government?,” he said.
Mr. Vallabh said the per capita debt would not only add to inflationary pressure but would also discourage global institutional investors as international credit rating agencies might downgrade India as an investment destination.
