The RBI Bulletin of October 2023 shows extremely concerning economic trends and demonstrates the Modi government’s continuing mismanagement of India’s economy. These trends either remain or have worsened:

The October RBI bulletin confirms that personal loans were the single largest contributor to bank credit growth in August 2023, and grew at a massive 23%, while gold loans grew at 22%. In fact, for the past 15 months, non-housing personal loans have been growing at over 20%.

Meanwhile, credit growth to the industrial sector was just 6.1% y-o-y in August 2023, almost half of what it was last year and only one-third the level in 2013. Meanwhile, the share of bank credit to industry has been cut in half by the Modi government — from 46% of non-food credit in 2013, to just 24% in 2023.

Inflation remains out of control at 6.8%, way above the RBI’s target of 4%. The RBI raised the issue of “Sustained inflationary pressures in cereals, pulses, and spices.” While the PM lectures others on ‘revdis’ and fiscal responsibility, the Modi government’s fiscal deficit is ballooning. It has grown by almost 20% over the past year, to over Rs. 6.4lakh crores in Q1 of 2023-24

The spectacular failure of ‘Make in India’ and the ineffectiveness of the PLI schemes is evident in the sluggish export growth in this quarter, at less than 4%. Each month’s RBI Bulletin should serve as a reminder to the Modi government that as much as it tries to hide data and mislead the public, the basic facts do not lie — the economy has been completely mismanaged and the vast majority of Indians are suffering. Wednesday, October 25, 2023