Comparing India's growth with Bangladesh inappropriate: Indian minister tells parliament

Bangladeshi economy's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate has been higher than that of India's economy during 2017-2020. 

India's Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh told the country's Lok Sabha that though GDP growth rates of India's economy are less than that  of Bangladesh during 2017-2020, such comparison of economies of significantly different sizes may not be appropriate, reports the Economic Times. 

"India has been registering a fair GDP growth rate(at constant prices)…Though the growth rates are less than those of Bangladesh during 2017 to 2020, such comparison of economies of significantly different sizes may not be appropriate," he said in a written reply.

IMF downgrades India's growth projection from 12.5% to 9.5% for fiscal 2021-22

India's economy grew 8.3%, 6.8%, 6.5%, 4.0% and -7.3% in FY17, FY18, FY19, FY20 and FY21, respectively.

"Year 2020-21 GDP growth witnessed a decline due to Covid-19 pandemic," Singh said.

GDP growth rates of Bangladesh (at constant price) are 7.1%, 7.3%, 7.9%, 8.2% and 2.4% for the years 2016 to 2020 respectively as per the World Bank database.

In a separate reply, Singh said that the government released Rs1,107.5 crore under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund against the pending instalments of 2019-20 and previous years in 2020-21 to clear the committed liabilities and help the people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Indian government has also decided to release all pending instalments of 2019-20 in respect of Members of Parliament of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during 2021-22, subject to the fulfilment of eligibility criteria and submission of eligible documents by district Authorities, as per the MPLADS guidelines.

Singh said that there are no proposals under consideration of the government for restoration of MPLADS funds for 2020-21 and 2021-22 and to increase the MPLADS allocation to Rs10 crore from Rs5 crore.