New Delhi / Three movies made ₹120 crore on October 2, no slowdown: RS Prasad

Courting a new controversy, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday, 12 October, that recently released movies like Joker, War and Sye Raa earning huge revenues in India is indicative of how well our economy is doing.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai’s BJP headquarters, Prasad said, “As I was the Information and Broadcast Minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's term, I had a certain liking towards movies. There's a huge business by movies.”

Prasad’s comments come around the time when multiple reports are suggesting that India is in the midst of an economic slump.

“On 2 October, three movies released, and Komal Nahta, who is a renowned film trade analyst, said that the national holiday saw an earning of Rs 120 crores by War, Joker and Sye Raa. It is because the country’s economy is sound that we are getting a revenue of Rs 120 crores in a day,” he continued.

Further, Prasad added, “I have given you ten parameters where economy is performing well, but not a single one is reflected in the (NSSO) report. Hence I call it a wrong report.”

He was referring to the NSSO's periodic labour force survey (PLFS) which had stated that unemployment was at a 45-year low.

Earlier, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar had countered the report saying, “It is not finalised. It is a draft report.”

Prasad’s statements come a day after the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), commonly known as factory output, registered a negative growth of 1.1 percent for August. The result was a stark contrast with the 4.3 percent growth in the month of July.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service on Thursday, 10 October, slashed its 2019-2020 growth forecast for India to 5.8 percent from 6.2 percent earlier. They stated that the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown which is partially related to long-lasting factors.

‘Pra-Sad Index’, Mocks Congress

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday, 12 October, took a dig at Prasad for his statement and said even China measures its economy on parameters like power, credit and freight.

“Li Keqiang, China’s PM inspired the Keqiang index to measure health of economy with the indicators: rail freight, power consumption & bank credit. For our very own IT Minister @rsprasad daily film trade turnover is better. Pra-sad index indeed,” Ramesh tweeted.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also reacted to Prasad's remarks, saying the BJP government lets no opportunity slip to mock at the misery of the people.

"This BJP govt lets no opportunity slip to mock at the misery of the people. First they create an economic crisis by mismanaging things, then instead of taking remedial measures, continue to be in denial. Lakhs of workers have lost jobs in just the auto and textile sectors. Investment and Savings levels are at an abysmal low. Unemployment is at its highest in five decades and even biscuit sales are down. No amount of denials, tamashas and fudging of data can hide this truth," Yechury tweeted.