Stop calling India dead econ, join growth story, Sitharaman tells Opposition
This story was originally published at 12:32 IST on 1 September 2026
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NEW DELHI – Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday urged the Opposition to stop calling India a dead economy and participate in the country's growth story. "Despite the challenges, India has managed to have this kind of growth," the minister said.
The fastest-growing Indian economy stands out in the global arena, Sitharaman said. The minister's remarks come in the wake of opposition parties criticising India's GDP growth data released by the statistics ministry Monday. India's GDP grew at 7.8% in Apr-Jun because of an overall growth in the sectors. The Indian economy had grown 8.6% in the March quarter and 6.9% in the year-ago quarter.
"The opposition parties are right in questioning the government. But when data comes to show that the Indian economy is growing at this pace, by repeatedly calling it a dead economy, it's not questioning the government; it is insulting the people of India, and they should avoid doing that," Sitharaman said in a post on social media platform Instagram.
"If anything, they also represent the people of India, and they should recognise the hard work of the people of the country," the minister said. "Therefore, I appeal to the Congress Party and opposition parties not to be naysayers... You are welcome to criticise the government, but please do not decry the efforts of Indian citizens."
India saw secular growth with all the sectors reporting positive growth in the first quarter of the financial year 2026-27 (Apr-Jun), according to Sitharaman. All parameters such as manufacturing sector, services sector, and foreign exchange reserves, show that the "hard work of the Indian citizen is really paying off," she said.
"Indians want to grow with all its people. Every region of India wants more investment. We need to have a positive environment in this country and I appeal to the parties which think that there are points for criticism," the minister added.
The services sector expanded 10.0% in the quarter ended June and the manufacturing sector rose 9.2% during the quarter. India's foreign exchange reserves also rose to an all-time high level of $729.33 billion as of Aug. 21, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India. End
US$1 = INR 94.87
Reported by Shweta
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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