No chance of India going into recession: Nirmala Sitharaman on price rise in LS, Congress stages walkout

While she was in the middle of her response, the Congress party staged a walkout, saying they were not satisfied with the same.

"The pandemic, second wave of Covid, Omicron, Russia-Ukraine -- in spite of all this we have held the inflation at 7 per cent or below. And that has to be recognised," Sitharaman said. 

"Currently retail inflation is at 7 per cent. During UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, the inflation went into double digits. During that period, the inflation was above 9% for 22 consecutive months," she said. 

Most of the inflation, she said, is in food and fuel. "Food inflation is coming down in the world, and it will come down in India also," she added.

She said India is still better off than other nations and added that the GDP of the US fell 0.7 per cent in the 2nd quarter, after 1.9 per cent in the first quarter. 

"They called this unofficial recession. There is no question of India getting into recession... A Bloomberg survey of economists said there is 0 per cent possibility of India slipping into recession," she said.

Citing the other parameters of the economy, she said, "The NPA (Non-Performing assets) of commercial banks is at a six-year low. GST collections have been above ₹ 1.4 lakh crore consecutively for 5 months"

The finance minister's response came after 10 days of chaos in parliament with the opposition demanding a discussion on price rise.

The Treasury and Opposition benches agreed to discuss the price rise issue in the lower house after Parliament Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion for revocation of suspension of four Congress Lok Sabha MPs.

Around 20 members across parties participated in the price rise discussion in the lower house and even like-minded parties like Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress urged the government to take steps in arresting inflation.