Budget 2023: Govt debt up 2.75 times to ₹155 lakh cr; GDP, per capita need boost, says Congress

Coming down heavily on the growing government debt, which has gone up to ₹155 lakh crore in the last ten years, the Congress party said Modinomics is full of high debt, inflation, unemployment and inequality and called for measures to boost GDP, per-capita income and focus on higher international ratings.

"Modinomics is full of high debt, high inflation, high unemployment and high inequality. In the upcoming budget, the government needs to take measures to replace high debt with high per capita income, high inequality with high gross domestic product growth, and high inflation with high ratings," says Congress Party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh.

"Since the independence of the country till 2014, the total debt of the Indian government was ₹55 lakh crore. Between 2014 and 2023, the total debt has gone up from ₹55 lakh crore to ₹155 lakh crore. Why has the per capita debt in the country increased from ₹43,000 to ₹1,09,000 ever since the Modi government took over. This means per capita debt has grown by 2.5 times. Total debt on the country has gone up by more than 2.75 times," Vallabh says.

Vallabh added that the higher national debt is not benefiting the larger population of the country and only a select few are drawing the benefits. "No benefit of the high debt is accruing to the middle and lower middle classes. The Oxfam report says that the bottom 50% of Indians, who own 3% wealth in the country, contribute 64% to the GST. But the top 10% Indians who own 60-70% of wealth in the country, contribute only 3% to GST," he says.

"Why is the 'K' shaped recovery model taking place in the country? After a homogenous decline, only a select few are experiencing recovery, while others are downward bound," Vallabh says.