A social media post accompanying an undated news clip, the Hindi headlines of which loosely translates to ‘India’s economy is in worst phase in 70 years’, is being widely shared. As the clip does not carry the date, the clip is being shared as a recent one, which is evident from the comments. Through this article, let’s fact-check the veracity of the clip shared in the post.
Claim: Recent news of NITI Aaayog VC comments ‘India’s economy is in worst phase in 70 years’
Fact: Back in August 2019, NITI Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar made these comments speaking about the economic slowdown. Addressing a summit, Rajiv Kumar said, ‘this is an unprecedented situation for Govt from last 70 years have not faced this sort of liquidity situation where the entire financial sector is in churn & nobody is trusting anybody else’. Lately, NITI Aayog or any of its officials did not make any comments in line with that of the viral post. Moreover, earlier this month, Kumar opined that ‘India is on the cusp of major economic recovery’. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
This is old news and dates back to the pre-COVID time when NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar made these comments in August 2019, in light of the economic slowdown.
Addressing the Hero Mindmine summit, Rajiv Kumar said ‘this is an unprecedented situation for Govt, from last 70 years have not faced this sort of liquidity situation where the entire financial sector is in churn & nobody is trusting anybody else.’
Several news agencies have reported Rajiv Kumar’s comments back then (here, here & here). Lately, NITI Aayog did not make any comments in line with the claim about the country’s economy. In fact, earlier this month NITI Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar opined that ‘India is on the cusp of the major economic recovery’. He further asserted ‘that it was quite clear from all accounts that India will remain the fastest growing economy in the world’ and ruled out the speculations of stagflation as overhyped.
To sum it up, an old news clip of NITI Aayog VC’s comments on the economy is being shared as a recent one.
