P Chidambaram takes a dig at Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks on the rupee
New Delhi:
Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram has pierced Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s theory that the rupee has not weakened but the dollar has strengthened.
Ms Sitharaman made the remarks while defending the 8 per cent depreciation of the rupee against the dollar this year. The BJP had defended his remark, though it also sparked a meme celebration on social media.
Mr Chidambaram told NDTV today that Ms Sitharaman made a “thoughtless” remark.
“If she contests, and god forbid, she loses, I expect her to say ‘I didn’t lose, my opponent won’. What kind of statement is that? So, I think It is best to leave it there. It was a thoughtless statement. Someone must have told him it was a clever statement. It is hardly anything smarter,” Mr Chidambaram said.
The BJP had doubled down on the finance minister’s remarks, pointing out how the dollar has risen against most currencies, while the rupee has not weakened against all currencies “as it did during the UPA”. [United Progressive Alliance] in 2013″, which would then be called a genuine case of rupee depreciation, but is no longer the case.
However, Mr Chidambaram said there is no point in defending the BJP as the comparison with the dollar is wrong.
“If my per capita savings is the same as your per capita savings, if my household savings is the same as your household savings, if my GDP [Gross Domestic Product] As big as your GDP, of course you can compare my currency to your currency. If all other things are not comparable, there is a huge difference, what is the point of saying that my currency has become less than yours?” the former finance minister told NDTV.
“It all depends on the stage of development of the country. And India’s stage is quite low. It may be the fifth largest economy because of our population. GDP per capita will be high even if it is low. We are poor, there hunger There is malnutrition, there is a huge lack of health and education, so you have to be humble about it, you have to be humble about it, instead of saying that my posture has not decreased from your posture. are going to stabilize,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
India’s forex reserves stood at $532.87 billion in the week to October 7, which is much lower than the $642.45 billion seen a year ago. The Reserve Bank of India and Ms Sitharaman have in the past attributed the change in valuation due to appreciation of the US dollar to the fall in forex reserves.
Ms Sitharaman told reporters yesterday after attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington that “I will not see it as a depreciation of the rupee, I will see it as a strengthening of the dollar, a steady depreciation in the dollar. Strength.”