‘By no stretch of imagination’: CEA Nageswaran dismisses Trump’s ‘dead economy’ remark, says numbers speak for themselves
"I don’t think we should dwell on that particular remark and don’t want to respond to that because the facts are responding in their own way," said CEA Anantha Nageswaran.
- Aug 19, 2025,
- Updated Aug 19, 2025 12:14 PM IST
Chief Economic Advisor Dr V Anantha Nageswaran said India does not need to respond to US President Donald Trump’s ‘dead economy’ jibe as the growth numbers speak for themselves. He added that India’s post-COVID recovery has become a template for other countries. The CEA also said that the overhauling of the GST is a step forward towards India’s economic reform.
INDIA NOT ‘DEAD ECONOMY’: CEA
Speaking to India Today, Nageswaran said, “We should let the facts speak for themselves as they have been doing, regardless of who says what. I don’t think we should dwell on that particular remark and don’t want to respond to that because the facts are responding in their own way.” “By no stretch of imagination or argument or evidence, can India be classified as a dead economy. Far from it. It’s a dynamic economy,” he added.
India’s post-COVID recovery and a combination of fiscal prudence and fiscal responsibility is a template that India has been able to set for other nations, he said. “If you look at the IMF forecast or the credit rating upgrade, these are more concrete acknowledgments of the hard work and the progress that we have achieved,” he said.
CEA ON TRUMP TARIFFS
The CEA also addressed US’ tariff concerns. He said that exporters in sectors such as marine products, textiles, gems and jewellery would face short-term hardship, but was confident that India would weather the impact. India was also drawing up free trade agreements with several countries including Australia, the UAE, the UK, and the EU.
CHANGES IN GST SIGNIFICANT MOVE: CEA
CEA Nageswaran said that the proposed overhaul of the GST marks a big step forward in India’s economic reform journey. “So first of all, the government, before the GST reforms in the budget itself in February, gave a significant direct tax break for middle class households and that will kick in this year…In other words, the taxes that households, individuals will be paying this year will be much lower than what they paid last year because in the budget significant tax reliefs were extended on the direct taxes side.”
“So this is coming on top of that. So we should not forget that it is a very significant reform measure already announced on February 1 this year…The weighted average GST rate, if anything over the years has been coming down, from 15 per cent if I am not mistaken down to 11 plus per cent, the average rate,” he said. “GST also has a lot of zero-rated items and a very few items in the 28 per cent category and the number has whittled down over the years.”
“It is going to put more money in the hands of households again in terms of disposable income, will contribute to lower inflation rate which means it also opens up space for the central bank to take note of that and it also lowers input cost for businesses at a time when they are facing external uncertainty,” he said in the interview.
Chief Economic Advisor Dr V Anantha Nageswaran said India does not need to respond to US President Donald Trump’s ‘dead economy’ jibe as the growth numbers speak for themselves. He added that India’s post-COVID recovery has become a template for other countries. The CEA also said that the overhauling of the GST is a step forward towards India’s economic reform.
INDIA NOT ‘DEAD ECONOMY’: CEA
Speaking to India Today, Nageswaran said, “We should let the facts speak for themselves as they have been doing, regardless of who says what. I don’t think we should dwell on that particular remark and don’t want to respond to that because the facts are responding in their own way.” “By no stretch of imagination or argument or evidence, can India be classified as a dead economy. Far from it. It’s a dynamic economy,” he added.
India’s post-COVID recovery and a combination of fiscal prudence and fiscal responsibility is a template that India has been able to set for other nations, he said. “If you look at the IMF forecast or the credit rating upgrade, these are more concrete acknowledgments of the hard work and the progress that we have achieved,” he said.
CEA ON TRUMP TARIFFS
The CEA also addressed US’ tariff concerns. He said that exporters in sectors such as marine products, textiles, gems and jewellery would face short-term hardship, but was confident that India would weather the impact. India was also drawing up free trade agreements with several countries including Australia, the UAE, the UK, and the EU.
CHANGES IN GST SIGNIFICANT MOVE: CEA
CEA Nageswaran said that the proposed overhaul of the GST marks a big step forward in India’s economic reform journey. “So first of all, the government, before the GST reforms in the budget itself in February, gave a significant direct tax break for middle class households and that will kick in this year…In other words, the taxes that households, individuals will be paying this year will be much lower than what they paid last year because in the budget significant tax reliefs were extended on the direct taxes side.”
“So this is coming on top of that. So we should not forget that it is a very significant reform measure already announced on February 1 this year…The weighted average GST rate, if anything over the years has been coming down, from 15 per cent if I am not mistaken down to 11 plus per cent, the average rate,” he said. “GST also has a lot of zero-rated items and a very few items in the 28 per cent category and the number has whittled down over the years.”
“It is going to put more money in the hands of households again in terms of disposable income, will contribute to lower inflation rate which means it also opens up space for the central bank to take note of that and it also lowers input cost for businesses at a time when they are facing external uncertainty,” he said in the interview.