Reaffirming its commitment to economic reforms in the country, the Congress party said it wanted India to achieve 10 per cent growth rate and become a global player.
"Whatever we have begun we want to take it to the logical conclusion. The question that gears would be put in reverse position is absurd," senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said.
It was within the reach of the country to achieve 10 per cent growth on account of huge foreign currency reserves and technological advances but substantial reforms and fiscal consolidation would have to be undertaken, he said.
Pointing out that the Bharatiya Janata Party was touting an 8.4 per cent growth achieved in one quarter of a fiscal, Mukherjee said the growth average during the five-year rule of NDA was much low.
Contesting the central government's claim that the country was shining, he said that net employment generation has come down in Ninth Plan and calorie consumption in major states had fallen despite rise in buffer foodgrain stocks. The country required an investment rate of about 32 per cent of the GDP to sustain 8 per cent growth rate for which the domestic savings should grow, he said.
Had the Congress government continued, there would have been much bigger growth, he said, adding that the Congress had reduced fiscal and revenue deficit and if the successive governments were good reformers they would have been further reduced.
The revenue deficit should be reduced to zero in three years which would help in containing the fiscal deficit to about 2.5 per cent, Mukherjee added.
© 2026