Nirmala Sitharaman: See these seven green shoots?

New Delhi: Defending the budget she presented in Parliament, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday listed seven signs that the economy is not in trouble. These are the green shoots that indicate india is marching towards a USD 5 trillion economy.

These are: increasing foreign direct investment (FDI); rise in factory output; GST collections topping Rs 1 lakh crore in the past three months; forex reserves at an all-time high; an upbeat stock market; government's focus four engines of growth--private investment, exports, private and public consumption; and a spurt in public investment with the launch of a National Infrastructure Pipeline.

The latter envisages investment of Rs 1.03 lakh crore in infrastructure development across the country over the next four years, she said.

To boost consumption, the government has increased the Minimum Support Price of all mandated rabi and kharif crops for 2019-20.

Sitharaman couldn't resist taking a crack at former finance minister P Chidambaram, who said last week that the economy is perilously close to the intensive care unit after being managed by "incompetent doctors".

She said the fiscal deficit was higher during the UPA regime "when the economy was managed by competent doctors".