Rating upgrades, high growth rate show India not a dead economy: FM

New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday cited India's 8.2 per cent growth and sovereign rating upgrades by global agencies to say that if India was a 'dead economy', then such upgrades would not have happened.

Taking on Opposition members in the Lok Sabha who sought the government's response to US President Donald Trump calling India a "dead economy", Sitharaman said India is the fastest-growing major economy, which grew at 8.2 per cent in the September quarter.

In the last 10 years, the minister said, the economy transitioned from "external vulnerability to external resilience".

"Every institution is raising our growth outlook for this year and the forthcoming year. There are clear expressions (from the IMF) recognising India's growth and no dead economy gets a credit rating upgrade by DBRS, S&P and R&I," Sitharaman said during reply to the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha.

Trump had in July called India a "dead economy" while expressing disappointment with New Delhi's posturing to continue buying oil from Russia.

Sitharaman cited data and rating upgrades by global agencies to negate the remark.

The minister said, "The economy today has moved from fragility to fortitude".

"So, somebody said something somewhere, however important that somebody is, we should not depend on that, but rely on data available within the country and also data coming from elsewhere. Rely on data," she told Opposition members.

"Can a dead economy grow at 8.2 per cent? Can a dead economy get credit rating upgrades?" Sitharaman said.

The Reserve Bank last week raised the FY26 GDP growth projection to 7.3 per cent, from its earlier estimate of 6.8 per cent. India recorded an 8.2 per cent growth in the September quarter, and 7.8 per cent in the June quarter.

With regard to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) giving 'C' grade to India's national accounts -- including Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross Value Added (GVA), Sitharaman said India's grading has remained the same at the median rating of 'B'.

She said the IMF flagged the outdated base year and remarked that it should be rebased.

"So to say that there has been a downgrade by the IMF is misleading the House. For this year, the IMF gave B for overall statistics," Sitharaman said, adding that despite the pandemic, India is the fastest-growing major economy for the fourth year in a row.

Sitharaman said India's debt-to-GDP shot up to 61.4 per cent post-COVID, but policies adopted by the central government helped to bring it down to 57.1 per cent by 2023-24.

"By this year-end, I expect it to come down to 56.1 per cent," Sitharaman said.

Observing that the Indian economy transitioned from external vulnerability in 2013 to resilience, she said the growth has become quite broad-based in the last decade.

Actual household consumption shows that the bottom 40 per cent of the population is acquiring wealth and assets at a significantly faster rate than the top 20 per cent, she pointed out.

Inequality in asset ownership has massively declined, particularly in urban areas, where the disparity for key assets like motor vehicles and refrigerators has shrunk dramatically, she said.

Reeling out numbers, Sitharaman said ownership of motor vehicles among the rural bottom 40 per cent surged 7-fold, rising from a mere 6.2 per cent to 47.1 per cent between 2011-12 and 2023-24.

Similarly, refrigerator ownership in this group jumped nearly 8-fold from 2.9 per cent to 22.5 per cent, and mobile phone ownership became near-universal, leaping from 66.5 per cent to 94.3 per cent.

Replying to the issue of fertiliser shortage faced by farmers, she said the government has ensured enough supply during the kahrif season (June-October), and steps have been taken to ensure its adequate availability during the ongoing Rabi season.

Talking about defence allocation, the finance minister said Rs 53.83 lakh crore were earmarked in 2014-15.

Indigenous defence production hit a record Rs 1.27 lakh crore in 2023-24, a 174 per cent surge from Rs 46,400 crore in 2014-15, she said, adding that 16,000 MSMEs are emerging as the game-changers, strengthening indigenous defence capabilities.

India’s defence exports reached a record Rs 23,622 crore in FY 2024-25 from less than Rs 1,000 crore in 2014, she said.

During UPA, a defence minister was compelled to stand in this House and say - "I don't have money". But this is not the situation today.

With regard to India's increasing prowess in the manufacturing sector, Sitharaman said India has emerged as a net exporter in many sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods and defence.

In 2014-15, production of electronics goods was Rs 1.9 lakh crore, which has increased to Rs 11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25, and its exports rose from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 3.27 lakh crore in the last financial year. PTI JD DP TRB CS DP BAL BAL