Rating upgrades, high growth rate show India not 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.

The minister said the economy in the last 10 years 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.

US President Donald 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She said IMF flagged outdated base year and said it should be rebased.

"So to say that there has been a downgrade by IMF is misleading the House. For this year, 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. PTI JD DP TRB