Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday criticised opposition parties and former finance secretary Subhash Garg over his remarks on 7.8% GDP growth, saying he did not know how to “compare apples with apples” and was trying to misguide the people of India.
India's economy grew 7.8% in real terms in the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27, according to the revised GDP series.
Goyal said that in this global world of turmoil, India is an oasis in the desert and the country continued to be the fastest-growing among large economies of the world.
"The naysayers can say what they want, but 7.8% growth is a reality. When I see on television some of the opposition leaders, even possibly you can throw in along with them a former finance secretary or a former Reserve Bank governor, both of whom could not complete their time in India or in the government and for the right reasons," he told reporters in New Delhi.
"They don't even know how to compare apples with apples. They are trying to misguide the people of India, comparing a growth rate at an old series with a new series, where the base year itself has changed," Goyal added.
He added that critics were trying to find shortcomings in the growth figures by asking, "Okay, there is 7.8 per cent growth, but where are the jobs?"
Goyal said the demand for workers was strong, particularly in the textile sector, citing requests from industry in Tiruppur for more workers. "Send me 100,000 people in Tiruppur, we will fill and provide them a job," he said.
He said that the naysayers somehow are not able to digest that they themselves are the "only jobless people left".
"And the only possible job left is to get on to a television panel trying to concoct or manufacturing an argument," he added.
Garg has said GDP growth would have been about 2.6% in current prices if last year's GDP had not been revised down from roughly Rs 86 lakh crore to Rs 80 lakh crore.
He also said that truth cannot be hidden, and the system that records what happens every month and every quarter has been in place for years.
"We politicians, ministers and MPs do not manufacture these figures. When you (referring to Opposition leaders) come forward with such a negative mindset, you are, in a way, belittling yourself," Goyal said.
(With inputs from PTI)
