The country is not following the right economic policies, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said here on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ushered in some good programs such as Make in India, but what is lacking is macroeconomic policies, the former Union minister said.
Speaking at the World Hindu Economic Forum, Swamy accused the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru of `imposing' the Soviet economic model on India which he said held back the economy.
"Today, if we follow the right economic policies—I am sorry to say, we are not," he said. Modi was working hard on schemes and programs such as Make in India, Ujjwala and the campaign to stop open defecation, the BJP leader noted.
"But they are all micro-economic measures. What the country needs is macro-economic policies and that we have not yet done. We will do it because we are facing some problem now, so serious thinking has begun," he added.
Swami criticised former Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan for increasing interest rates to control inflation. It led to unemployment and harmed the small and medium industries, he claimed.
Government should ensure that bank loan interest rates do not exceed nine per cent, while fixed deposits and saving accounts should earn nine per cent interest, Swamy said. "If you do that, investment will start booming and our growth rate will go up," he said.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was not desirable for the country at its present stage of development, he said. Income tax should be abolished so as to raise savings,
Swamy said.
"During Nehru's time, we thought we cannot grow beyond 3.5 per cent. Today, we think India can grow at 10 per cent a year. We have the ability, the resources, capacity," he said.