Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday that the Indian economy is doing well as three Bollywood movies in a single day managed to do business of Rs 120 crore. Minister was addressing a rally in Mumbai for the upcoming Assembly Elections in Maharashtra. He argued that the box office performance of three movies presented a different picture of the economy than claimed by the financial reports.
“I was also told that on October 2, which is observed as one of the national holidays, three Hindi movies garnered Rs. 120 crore business on that day. Unless the economy is sound in the country how can only three movies collected so much business in a single day?,” Prasad said to the news agency PTI.
“Electronic manufacturing, Information and Technology sector, Mudra loan, commerce services are performing very well. We never said that we will give government jobs to everyone. There are some people who have organised against the government and misleading people over unemployment,” he added.
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organisation working to foster global monetary cooperation, the worldwide economic slowdown is more pronounced this year in India and Brazil. The IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said that 90 percent of the world is likely to have slower growth in 2019.
On her remarks, the Minister said, “The measurement of IMF about India is still incomplete. And do not forget, India was on 11th position when Manmohan Singh was in power, today it is on the fifth. We have surpassed France.”
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), earlier in this year indicated that the unemployment figures are at a 45-year low.
On Saturday, thrashing the NSSO’s claim Prasad said, “I have given 10 parameters where the economy is performing well, but not a single one is reflected in the NSSO report. Hence, I call it a wrong one.”
The economic slowdown in the country has been hitting the headlines over the subsequent months. In September, the passenger vehicle sales slumped 23.7 percent, which was the eleventh straight month decline in the industry. Car and auto component makers have cut many jobs and halted some production due to the crisis.