Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad on Wednesday said inflation in India is less than the developed countries like the USA and the domestic economy is growing faster in the post-pandemic period. He said at 7 per cent, the rate of inflation in India is less than in the USA and China.
“There is indeed inflation in India but it’s more in the world. The inflation rate here is around 7 per cent, which is less than the developed countries. In the USA and China, the inflation rate is more than eight per cent,” Karad told reporters in Nashik. He said India’s neighbours Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are experiencing ”financial mayhem”.
”Compared to these countries, inflation is less in India and our economy is growing. India is in fifth place in the world. After the COVID pandemic, our economy is growing faster than any other country in the world,” Karad said. He said the prices of fuel were reduced twice under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reduce inflation.
”Even the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra slashed fuel prices after coming to power in the state. All this was done to reduce inflation,” the minister said. Speaking about the Goods & Services Tax (GST), Karad said it existed earlier in the name of cess. ”But now, the GST Council headed by the Union Finance Minister has taken a decision. The GST is not (levied) on the loose goods but the branded or packaged goods,” Karad said. Responding to a query, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP said party leader Pankaja Munde couldn’t become a minister in the Shinde-Fadnavis government as she is not an MLA. He denied that she was unhappy with the party. ”She was in Delhi yesterday and I met her. She is the national secretary of the party, a higher post. She is not an MLA and therefore she couldn’t become a minister. And in that context, Munde had said that she didn’t have the eligibility to become a minister,” Karad clarified Munde’s recent statement on not finding a berth in the new council of ministers.
