Budget 2019: Who gave India a higher GDP - Modi or Manmohan?

Indian economy went through a lot of ups and downs over the past five years. While a strong government with a clear mandate bolstered the confidence of stakeholders, disruptive economic reforms took their toll on India's GDP. It was under the Modi government that India became the fastest growing economy in the world, and even moved up a spot, for some time, in the GDP rankings. But GDP growth rate never reached double digit figures, a feat that was achieved under the Manmohan Singh government.

Singh, an acclaimed economist and former Union Finance Minister, held the office of the Prime Minister of India for two tenures. In the second year of the UPA-II government under him, India's GDP growth rate edged past the 10 per cent mark. Recalibrated data did bring it down to 8.5 per cent, giving way to loads of controversy, but Modi government has not bested it yet.

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So this begs the question, which Indian Prime Minister helped India's GDP to grow the most, Narendra Modi or Manmohan Singh. The numbers favour the former.

India's GDP growth has been more consistent under Narendra Modi, more or less, when compared to Manmohan Singh. While India's GDP growth rate was 8.5 per cent (as per recalculated data) in 2010-11 during Singh's second term as the PM, it slipped to 5.24 per cent in the next fiscal, which was the lowest in the five years of UPA-II. The average GDP growth rate Singh saw in his second tenure was 6.67 per cent.

To match Singh's 8.5, India's GDP growth rose to 8.2 per cent during FY17 after a recent upwards revision by the Central Statistics Office, the highest under the Modi government. The GDP growth rate for 2017-18 was also revised upwards to 7.2 per cent from the earlier 6.68 per cent. Earlier, this was the lowest economic growth rate recorded under the Modi government.

Also read: Highlights of Union Budget 2019

"Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for 2017-18 and 2016-17 stand at Rs 131.80 lakh crore and Rs 122.98 lakh crore, respectively, showing growth of 7.2 per cent during 2017-18 and 8.2 per cent during 2016-17," the CSO said.

While the parameters for calculating GDP employed by the Modi government have been topics of hot debate, the outlook for the Indian economy has remained positive all through its term. Experts believe that India can become the fifth largest economy in the world after, surpassing the United Kingdom and France. Earlier this year, India had surpassed France to become the sixth largest economy before slipping once again to the seventh position by November.