New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday asserted that the country's household sector is not in distress and hit out at the Congress, accusing it of offering "hare-brained and ill-informed arguments" to show the government's management of the economy in bad light.

The BJP's reaction came after Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on X cited a media report and accused the Narendra Modi government of "mismanagement of economy" and having "misplaced priorities", claiming that households are unable to save due to high inflation and stagnant wages.

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BJP IT department head Amit Malviya on X said, "The Congress just loves to foolishly jump on any and every issue without even doing basic checks...Besides, it is a bit rich coming from the Congress, whose tenure from 2009-14 has been nothing short of an economic disaster for India."

"It would be best if the Congress delved into issues before offering hare-brained and ill-informed arguments," he said.

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In his post on X, Ramesh said, "Many economists have raised the following critical issues: Due to high inflation and stagnant wages, households do not have sufficient funds to save. The savings rate is at its lowest in many decades. Reduced savings means less capital available for business and government investment. Instead, India will have to depend on volatile foreign capital for financing."

The share of the housing loans, out of all personal loans, is below 50 per cent for the first time in five years, which is a matter of serious concern, showing that increase in household liabilities is driven by distress, the Congress leader claimed.

In an apparent dig at Ramesh, Malviya said, "Here are the facts, which Congress' Mr 'Know-it-All' has missed."

The Stock of Household Gross Financial Assets went up by 37.6 per cent between June 2020 and March 2023 and per capita income doubled since 2014-15, the BJP leader said.

There has been "a steady double-digit growth" in loans for housing since May 2021, he said.

"So, financial liabilities have been incurred to buy real assets. Vehicle loans have been growing at double digit (Y-o-Y) since April 2022 and more than 20 per cent (Y-o-Y) since September 2022," he said.

"Clearly, the household sector is not in distress. It is not a sign of distress on the part of households but of confidence in their future employment and income prospects," Malviya said on X.

This has been "amply" brought out in the recent consumer confidence survey of the RBI and the C-Voter survey of consumer optimism conducted in July and August, respectively, he said.

"Overall household savings (at current prices) - which includes financial, physical and jewellery - has grown at a CAGR of 9.2 per cent between 2013-14 and 2021-22, which is equivalent to the nominal GDP growth of 9.6 per cent," Malviya added.

The BJP leader said households added net financial assets of Rs 13.8 lakh crore in FY23 compared to nearly Rs 17 lakh crore the year before and Rs 22.8 lakh crore in FY21.

The biggest item that seems to have swung it is the net flow of credit from non-banking financial corporations (NBFC) to the household sector, which includes unincorporated enterprises, he said.

The BJP leader claimed that it was during Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's regime when "double-digit inflation" was a regular feature, which "actually" ate into the savings, particularly of the poor and vulnerable.

"Scams, extreme policy paralysis and clueless thinking had ushered India into the notorious league of 'Fragile Five'...It's nothing short of ironic that the very architects of economic mayhem are now posing as the self-proclaimed saviours, blissfully ignoring the haunting spectres of their not-so-distant past," he said on X.

Malviya said that in the recently released inflation data, there are five non-BJP ruled states among the top six with highest inflation, with Congress-ruled Rajasthan topping the list.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)