FM Nirmala Sitharaman Presents White Paper Exposing UPA's Economic Mismanagement

The much-talked-about white paper was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday by the Narendra Modi government, detailing the "policy misadventures and scams" under the Congress-led UPA government's 10-year tenure and how the NDA set about turning it around.

During her Interim Budget speech, it was stated that a white paper on the economy would be released by the government, detailing the economic mismanagement during the ten years of UPA rule until 2014.

White Paper presented in parliament

The crisis of those years has been overcome by the NDA government, and the economy has been firmly put on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development, as stated by Sitharaman. The UPA government's decade of governance (or its absence) was marked by policy misadventures and scams such as non-transparent auction of public resources (coal and telecom spectrum), the spectre of retrospective taxation, unsustainable demand stimulus and ill-targeted subsidies and reckless lending by the banking sector with undertones of favouritism, etc, as claimed by the report.

In a detailed report, it was claimed by the Finance Ministry that a fragile economy laced with economic mismanagement and financial indiscipline amid widespread corruption was inherited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Top highlights from the white paper included:

• A healthy economy ready for more reforms was inherited by the UPA Government, but it was made non-performing in its ten years.
• Credit for the 1991 reforms, which were seldom failed to be taken by the UPA leadership, was abandoned after coming to power in 2004.
• Little was done by the UPA government to build upon the strong foundation laid by the previous NDA government, even as the country stood at the cusp of emerging as a powerful economy.
• Economic growth occurred between 2004 and 2008 due to the lagged effects of the reforms of the NDA government and favorable global conditions.
• However, the UPA government took credit for the high growth but did little to consolidate it.
• Severe undermining of the macroeconomic foundations was done by the UPA government in its quest to maintain high economic growth by any means after the global financial crisis of 2008.
• High fiscal deficits for six years between FY09 and FY14 heaped misery on ordinary and poorer households.
• Inflation raged between 2009 and 2014, and the common man bore the brunt.
• The banking crisis was one of the most important and infamous legacies of the UPA government.
• Under the UPA government, foreign exchange reserves declined from around USD 294 billion in July 2011 to around USD 256 billion in August 2013.
• Public finances were brought to a perilous state under the UPA government.
• Large unspent funds for many social sector schemes during the UPA years crippled the effectiveness of the government's schemes.
• The government's prioritization of unproductive spending meant that significant funds were allocated towards consumption rather than productive investment.
• The coal scam shook the conscience of the nation in 2014.
• India's telecom sector lost a precious decade due to the 2G scam and policy paralysis.
• The demotivating investment climate under the UPA government led to domestic investors moving abroad.
• Time and again, there was a crisis of leadership in the UPA government.
• The economic mismanagement choked the growth potential, and India became a "fragile" economy.
• Measures continue to be undertaken to unearth black money and to discourage recourse since the time the government assumed power in 2014.
• Many structural reforms have been undertaken by the Indian economy since the government assumed power in 2014.
• Diverse reforms have been undertaken to restore and enhance the potential of the economy by creating a business-friendly environment, improving ease of living, and strengthening governance systems and processes.
• This led to a substantial decline in policy uncertainty in India, which had peaked under the UPA Government.

"The poor state of affairs then was refrained from being brought out by our government in a white paper. A negative narrative and shaken confidence of all, including investors, would have been given," states the report. "Looking back at the last ten years, it can be said with humility and satisfaction that the challenges left behind by the previous government have been successfully overcome," it is further added. Additionally, it is stated in the paper that there are "miles to go and mountains to scale before we sleep" as the destination is to make India a developed nation by 2047. "It is our Kartavya Kaal," it is added.