Economic survey disconnected from reality, no improvement in economic fundamentals: Left parties

NEW DELHI: Left parties on Monday said the Economic Survey presented by the government is "disconnected" from reality and issues like price rise, and unemployment have not been addressed.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a series of posts on X, alleged the Economic Survey presented by the NDA government is a "mega exercise in data fudging".

"Neither our economic fundamentals nor tackling people's woes like price rise, unemployment, hunger and poverty have shown any improvement. On the contrary, worsened," he said.

He said even as the profits-to-GDP ratio is at a 15-year high, India's informal sector continues to remain squeezed.

"Despite soaring profits and a corporate profits-to-GDP ratio at a 15-year high, the Modi cronies have failed to ensure hiring and worker compensation.

"With corporate profits nearly quadrupling from FY20 to FY23, India's informal sector, which contributes nearly 45 per cent of GDP and employs 75 per cent of the workforce, continues to be squeezed," he said.

He also pointed out that while investment in real estate has shown a 105 per cent boost, the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in machinery, equipment, and IP products grew by just 35 per cent.

"The Modi govt's tax concessions to corporates claimed to boost capital formation have fallen short. From FY19 to FY23, private sector GFCF in machinery, equipment, and IP products grew by just 35 per cent, while investment in buildings and real estate boomed by 105 per cent. This is destroying manufacturing growth and job creation," he said.

Private GFCF serves as a rough indicator of how much the private sector in an economy is willing to invest.

"Food inflation based on the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) increased from 3.8 per cent in FY22 to 6.6 per cent in FY23 and further to 7.5 per cent in FY24. This is when India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index-2023," Yechury said.

"Real GVA growth of agriculture, sector, where 45 per cent of our workforce are employed declined to 1.4 per cent in FY 2024 from 4.7 per cent in FY 2022-23," he said.

Gross Value Added (GVA) is the value that producers have added to the goods and services they have bought.

Communist Party of India General Secretary D Raja spoke on similar lines.

"The Economic Survey presented in Parliament doesn't have any correspondence to the ground realities," Raja said.

"The macro level claims made by the government do not correspond to the micro level realities. The government claims the unemployment rate has declined by 3.2 per cent but what is on the ground? Unemployment and underemployment are increasing," he said.

In a post on X, he said the Survey shows that the BJP government and its idea of 'Viksit Bharat' "will be for the corporates only".

"Macro-level projections from the Economic Survey do not correspond to the ground. Feigning ignorance and citing lack of data on all important indicators, while singing praises for their rule, is the way of hoodwinking people," he said.

"On employment generation, rising prices and increasing external debt, fall in the value of Rupee, the situation contradicts BJP's claims. This Economic Survey has squarely put the responsibility of job creation with the private sector, effectively meaning that there would be more privatisation."

He said that after acknowledging that the corporate sector is swimming in profits under the BJP rule, the Survey is silent in their contribution to job creation, sustainable development and environmental destruction.

"Heightened food inflation is burning a hole in the pocket of the poorest of our citizens while corporate profits have quadrupled. This again shows the BJP's priorities and raises the question of the common people's place in the so-called 'Viksit Bharat'," Raja said.