Sale of automobile, biscuits not decline; claims Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, has said that the sale of automobile and biscuits in the state have not declined even after being claimed by some people that there is an economic slowdown in the country.

"Some people are saying the economy is facing a slowdown. While it is true that there has been a decline in the automobile sector but there has been no decline in sales of vehicles in Bihar. In fact, sales have increased in the state as compared to the last year," Bihar Finance Minister, Modi on Monday said.

He said while attending a program organised by some traders in Patna on the occasion of the 94th birth anniversary of Late Ram Lakhan Prasad Gupta.

Reiterating that economic slowdown has not affected Bihar, he said, "I was reading in a newspaper that people have stopped buying biscuits, sales of a brand of biscuit have dropped. However, when I spoke to the biscuit manufacturers of Bihar they told me sales have increased in the state and the country."

This came after days after the Deputy Chief Minister made a bizarre claim by saying that the opposition parties are trying to create panic in the country over what he claimed to be a recurring "cyclic" slowdown in the economy during months of "saawan-bhado" (fifth and sixth months in the Hindu calendar).

The economic growth slowed to a seven-year low of 5 per cent in April to June quarter from 8 per cent a year ago, according to the government data.