Govt's failures, bad decisions & not World economy affecting us: Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram

"Banks Board Bureau was an utter failure. It did nothing to restore the health of the banks"

New Delhi: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday took on government over its major economic policies and said that “our bad decisions and blunders, and not world economy have affected our economy”. He further made point by point attacks on the government. Major takeaways from Chidambaram’s snipe on government:

• RBI's confidence survey states that 48% feel that the economic situation of the country has worsened and Tamil Nadu government has acknowledged that 50000 SME units have been shut down
• Inflation is in the rise. No more proof is necessary than the hike in repo rate
• Crop insurance covers barely 30% of the farmers
• 50% profit to farmers was merely a phrase
• Several countries in Europe have had reasonably good growth. Government's administrative incompetence is the reason for failure of economy
• Rule of thumb is, currency in circulation must grow at the same rate of nominal GDP. Demonetisation was mistake because it cut down the circulation of currency
• Banks Board Bureau was an utter failure. It did nothing to restore the health of the banks
• GVA (Gross Value Added) in farm sector is far below the GVA of the whole economy. Farm wages have been constant for the last four years. At this rate it will take 14 years to double farm income
• If petrol was brought under GST, the prices would drastically reduce. Despite BJP ruling the center and 19 states, they are not taking this action