New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Malviya on Tuesday slammed Congress MP Jairam Ramesh for putting forward “alarmist and misleading” arguments to criticise the economic policy of the government.

Ramesh, who is also the Congress party’s communications chief, stated on X that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was focusing on the “3Fs”, fuel, fertilisers, and forex, but was overlooking the “all-important fourth F: falling rates of private investment that have been in evidence these past few years”.

Malviya hit back, saying: “Fuel, fertilisers, and forex are immediate external pressure points arising from global instability and affecting all nations. Crude prices, fertiliser prices, and forex volatility are ‘imported risks’. A responsible government flags them and acts on them. Pretending these are secondary issues shows how casually the Congress treats macroeconomic vulnerability.”

He also cited figures to show that private investment in the Indian economy has been increasing and took Jairam Ramesh to task for making “misleading” statements on the issue.

“On private investment, the argument is selective. Investment is driven by four things: demand, profitability, credit availability, and policy confidence. On all four counts, the current evidence points towards strengthening fundamentals,” Malviya said.

He added that actual private capital expenditure was evident and cited an analysis of nearly 1,200 companies from the CMIE Prowess database, which showed private sector investment rising 67 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7.7 lakh crore in September 2025, from Rs 4.6 lakh crore a year earlier.

According to Malviya, manufacturing accounted for nearly half of this capex, while services also contributed strongly. Capacity utilisation rose to 75.6 per cent in Q3 FY26, new order books grew 10.3 per cent year-on-year, and bank credit growth strengthened in the second half of FY26.

Ramesh also stated that net FDI flows had declined and that private corporate investment as a percentage of GDP was at half the peak pre-2014 level.

However, Malviya called this “a deliberate attempt to mislead on FDI”.

“Low net FDI does not automatically mean low foreign investor confidence. Gross FDI inflows in FY26 rose to around $94.5 billion, while net FDI increased sixfold compared to the previous fiscal year,” he said.

The BJP leader pointed out that “the flaw in the comparison is that the pre-2014 ‘peak’ private investment cycle was heavily debt-fuelled and ended in stalled projects, over-leveraged corporates, stressed banks and the NPA crisis”.

“Using that peak as a benchmark without mentioning the balance-sheet damage it created is dishonest economics,” he added.

Malviya further said that the banking system today was strong enough to finance growth.

“Public sector banks closed FY 2025-26 with gross NPAs at 1.93 per cent and net NPAs at 0.39 per cent, historically the lowest levels. Their gross advances grew 15.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 127 lakh crore, with retail, agriculture, and MSME advances growing 18.1 per cent, 15.5 per cent, and 18.2 per cent, respectively. This is the opposite of an economy starved of credit,” he explained.

He further stated that corporate profitability was improving, which is usually the precondition for a fresh investment cycle.

“A sample of 837 listed companies showed Q4 FY26 adjusted net profits rising to Rs 3.24 trillion, up from Rs 2.81 trillion a year earlier, while revenue rose to Rs 28.65 trillion. Profit growth outpaced revenue growth, and margins reached their highest level in five years,” Malviya said.

He also said that Indian companies investing abroad could not be “lazily framed as a flight from India”.

“A stronger Indian corporate sector will naturally acquire assets, build supply chains, and expand market access abroad. That is a sign of globalising Indian enterprise. The real question is whether companies are also investing at home,” he said.

“The capital expenditure data, bank credit data, profit data, and capacity utilisation data show that they are.”

“India is watching the 3Fs because external shocks must be managed carefully. Meanwhile, the domestic investment cycle is being supported by clean bank balance sheets, strong corporate profits, rising private capex, broad-based credit demand, and record gross FDI inflows,” Malviya added.

“The Congress wants to convert every macroeconomic risk into a political slogan. The data does not support that alarmism.”

–IANS

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