Former finance minister P Chidambaram speaks to India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai over a discussion on the upcoming Union budget, major recommendations, impact of demonetisation and BJP's allegation that he, along with former PM Manmohan helped business tycoon Vijay Mallya get loan.
Focussing on the major recommendations to the finance minister ahead of the Union budget, Chidambaram said, "India will remain on the path of fiscal consolidation therefore, the fiscal deficit must be below 3 per cent, current account deficit must be approximately 1.5 per cent and the inflation target must be between 4 and 5 per cent."
Speaking about the consequences of PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation move, Chidambaram said, "The consequences of the move have been worse than what we feared. At least 80 per cent of SMEs have closed down and it will take about 2 years for them to revive. Money supply after nearly 3 months of note ban is back to only about 10 lakh crore whereas the economy perhaps needs about 15-16 lakh crore of currency".
Launching a scathing attack at Modi and the NDA ministers, Chidambaram said, "The NPA level has worsened in the last three financial years. If Modi is the only one who has worked for development in the last 70 years, it means Atal Bihari Vajpayee destroyed India's economy for 6 years, Moraji Desai destroyed it for 2.5 years and VP Singh and Chandrashekhar destroyed it for 2 years. The only parallel I can think of is Donald Trump".
