Economic performance seen in ten years of UPA and NDA governments

- The Conundrum of Economics - Dhawal Mehta

- In terms of tax revenue, there is not much difference between the tenures of both the governments

The UPA government of the Congress and the NDA government of Modi are often at loggerheads over who is doing better in terms of economics and politics. The controversy of who managed the economy better in the entire ten years of the UPA government from 2004 to 2014 and Modi government from May 2014 to February 2024 has become an important issue in the election year. The following statistical claims have been made in this discussion.

1. Growth rate of GDP: The average annual economic growth rate during the nearly ten years of the Modi government (2014-2024) was 6.8 percent, while it was 5.9 percent during the ten years of the UPA (2004-2014).

2. Inflation rate: During the ten years of UPA (2004-2014), the average annual rate of consumer inflation was as high as 8.1 percent. During almost ten years of Modi government, it remained only 5.1 percent. The Modi government has been successful in controlling high inflation rates.

3. Unforeseen difficulties: In defense of the Modi government showing only 5.9 percent economic growth rate during its almost ten years, the Modi government said that the government had to face Kovind in 2020-2021. Kovind broke the economy, the Manmohan Singh government defended by saying that during our ten years, we had to face the global financial crisis created by the American bank in 2008. Excluding the economic growth rate of the above two crisis years, both the governments achieved an average economic growth rate of 7.2 percent during its ten years. Therefore, the economic achievement of both is considered equal on this issue.

4. The average economic growth rate of the agricultural sector during the Modi government was 3.5 percent and it was 3.5 percent during the ten years of the Manmohan Singh government, so both were similar in terms of the growth rate of the agricultural sector. Both the governments gave huge subsidies on fertilizers, water, electricity, fueling the need for green revolution.

5. The Modi government has achieved an economic growth rate of 7 percent during the last four consecutive years and the expected economic growth rate in 2023-2024 is also 7 percent. But the digital revolution in India started in the era of Rajiv Gandhi, Modi has now gone ahead and become the guardian of the era of robotics AI.

6. There is not much difference in tax revenue of Modi government and UPA government. However, the Modi government is slightly ahead in this regard. During the ten years of the UPA government, the tax revenue was 10.5 percent of the GDP, while it was 10.8 percent during the Modi government. The Modi government introduced a new technique of GST taxation. Taxes in this last year of Modi's second term, the percentage of taxes in GDP seems to increase even more.

7. One of the great schemes of the UPA government was MGNREGA, which was considered as a kind of employment guarantee scheme. The Modi government kept this scheme forever. Modi government's Nal Se Jal Yojana and the government paying the cost of treatment for a family member up to five lakhs (now 10 lakhs) can be considered as two very good schemes.

8. During the ten years of the UPA, the average annual capital investment of the central government was 14.9 percent of GDP, while that of the Modi government was 14.2 percent.

9. One of the major limitations of the Modi government is that they give half subsidies on food fertilizers and fuel to get political votes.