We will believe, no matter what.

"On a day when petrol crossed the Rs 100 mark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed the previous governments for not focusing on reducing India's energy import dependence," reported India Today. The previous governments did not ask you to levy extortionate taxes on fuel products which now account for over 61% of the retail prices of petrol and diesel. Petrol is the equivalent of 51 Indian rupees (INR) in Pakistan, at INR 60 in Sri Lanka, and INR 69 in Nepal, all of which import oil, reported the Economic Times. "India plans to impose new tariffs on imports of solar cells and modules from 1 April 2022, power and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh said." When imports become expensive it allows domestic manufacturers to charge higher prices, increasing price of electricity. "Petrol and diesel are not the only sources of energy for which consumers are paying through their nose because of high taxes and different tax regimes on input and final products. A myriad of taxes and levies on coal, which accounts for 55% of electricity generation, and non-inclusion of electricity in GST regime is costing power consumers upwards of Rs 25,000 crore a year," reported Times of India. Modi proudly celebrated the goods and services tax (GST) as a 'good and simple tax' when it was introduced in 2017 by his own government. India imported 137.16 million tonnes (MT) of coal between April and November, 17% less than 165.35 MT the previous year, because of the coronavirus-induced slowdown. "When GST in 2017 subsumed over a dozen central and state taxes, five products -- crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel and jet fuel (ATF) -- were kept out of it for the time being." So, it was done on purpose. Blaming previous governments was just another 'jumla'. But since the majority of people believe whatever he says, Modi can put whatever spin he likes. "GST collections touched a new high of nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore (Rs 1.2 trillion) in January, indicating a sharp recovery in post lockdown and better compliance, manifested in record returns of 90 lakh (9 million)," reported Times of India. This is surprising when the unemployment rate jumped to 9.1% in December which should reflect in lower consumer spending. "A section of the economy, more likely to be rich, is oozing exuberance about its future prospects," reported Roshan Kishore, "However, a very large section is still bogged down by low incomes and reduced employment opportunities, as seen in the RBI's (Reserve Bank) latest consumer confidence survey." "A resilient V-shaped recovery is underway for the Indian economy, the Economic Survey for the year 2020-21....has said," reported the Hindustan Times. However, over the last decade, starting in 2012-13, economic growth rose from 5.5% to a high of 8.3% in 2016-17 and then fell sharply to 4% last year forming an inverted V shape, wrote Udit Misra. If growth is slowing and customer spending is down how is GST collection hitting record highs? Prices must be shooting up. But retail inflation fell to a 16-month low of 4.1% in January and wholesale inflation rate came in at 2.03% in January. This could be because prices were already high in January last year or because of low seasonal food prices or because this is a lull before the storm. High transport costs are bound to reflect of prices at some point. It will be interesting to see what jumla will be produced as excuse if retail inflation jumps to double digits. Will people still believe?