“Across geographies, inequality has peaked, with data showing that Narendra Modi’s Billionnaire Raj is more unequal than the British Raj in its heyday,” Ramesh alleged.Consumption of high-end products such as premium chocolates is growing rapidly, but because of unequal growth, mass market consumption is unable to keep pace, he pointed out.Without adequate growth in consumption to assure them of a market for their products, India’s private sector will be unwilling to invest in new production, Ramesh said.”As the Government’s own Economic Survey (2024) acknowledged, private sector GFCF in machinery and equipment and intellectual property products has grown cumulatively by only 35 per cent in the four years to FY23. This is not a healthy mix. It is about to get worse, with new project announcements by the private sector falling by 21 per cent between FY23 and FY24,” the Congress leader said.Low investment levels drag down the medium and long-term GDP growth rates and are responsible for the country’s unemployment crisis, he claimed.”India is in its most precarious and difficult economic situation in many years. Wage stagnation, inflation, and inequality are not just political issues – they are structurally corrosive to India’s long-term growth prospects,” Ramesh asserted.They undermine India’s consumption growth and deprive the private sector of its single most important incentive to invest, he added.”These chokepoints will strangulate growth in the years to come if not taken seriously now, in a spirit of humility,” the Congress leader said.
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