In a sobering interview that paints an extremely bleak picture of the Indian economy and which will not please the government, former chief statistician and one of India’s most highly regarded economists, Pronab Sen, in an interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, has said that “the Indian economy is in bad shape and there is no question about it. My assessment is that it’s not good at all.” As things stand the economy will shrink by 12.5% this year after shrinking by 32% in the first quarter and by the end of the year, unemployment could reach 11% with 50 million out of a job, the former chief statistician said.Sen added that the steps the government had taken to freeze new projects is the polar opposite of what is needed and will only make a bad situation worse. He says the government is clearly in “a wait and watch mode but that’s just the wrong way to go”.
