Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday alleged that the BJP-led government had tried to fool people that the GDP growth is much higher than that of UPA and it was a scam.
Chidambaram claimed that NSSO data shifted the base year which is not unusual but the CSO data shifted the base year gave up RBI data base and switched over to Ministry of Company Affairs data base called MCA-21.
“Now MCA-21 is not being made available to anyone in the public domain – not available to economists – not available to researchers. It is a closely guarded secret of the government. They are using MCA data to get information about companies, their production, their profit,” he said at a press conference in New Delhi.
However much Mr Modi may try to take the narrative away from the economy, ultimately the people will vote on issues that affect their daily lives — jobs, infrastructure, investment, farmers’ distress and debt, ruin of MSMEs, stagnant incomes etc.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 8, 2019
The Congress leader said NSSO, in the surveys, that was underway, completed, has found 35 per cent of companies in the MCA data base do not exist, they are not traceable.
“They are either closed down or they not found at the addresses they have given. So, what is the data you are using to fool the people of this country that the GDP growth is much higher than the UPA? This is a scam. This is a scandal which has to be investigated first before we find solution of it,” he said.
The NSSO revelations have blown a huge hole in the growth figures put out by the CSO. It turns out that the government has been using bogus data.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 8, 2019
Doubts about veracity of the new series of GDP launched in 2015 have resurfaced after a new National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report showed that around 39 per cent of companies in the MCA-21 database, used for GDP calculation, could not be traced or surveyed.
“Out of the 39 per cent out-of-survey units in MCA, 21 per cent were found to be out of coverage and another 12 per cent were non-traceable (which in number is nearly 4,000 units),” said the report.
These companies were described as ‘active’ companies by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.