New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Economic policies in the country are not made for the people but for the "Bombay club", Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP A D Singh said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, adding that the situation was the same under the previous government led by the Congress as well.

Participating in a debate on the Finance Bill, Singh quoted a report of the World Bank from 2024, and said India's economic growth has slowed down, and at current pace, it may take 75 years to reach one quarter of per capita income of the US.

He said it is the middle income trap, where the top 20 per cent live in luxury, while the rest 80 per cent live in poverty.

"We are making policies without the Census data. Census data would have provided required data on health and education situations," he said.

Singh said policies in the country are influenced by the "Bombay club".

"And who makes the policies? Bombay club, major industries, IAS babus and friendly influencers in media determine the policy," Singh said.

"This is true, the economic policy is not to benefit you or me, it is to benefit the Bombay club," he said.

"Let me tell you it was the same during UPA time and it is the same during their time. I am not saying UPA time was very good," he said, adding that "fact is fact".

Singh also said that only a small section of the population has benefitted from the income tax cut announced in the FY26 budget, and urged the government to consider rationalising GST slabs.

Participating in the debate after Singh, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas took the jibe further, and said, "My friend A D Singh was saying that financial policy of this country is being made by the Bombay club. I don't know if it is the Bombay club, Nagpur club, or Gujarat club, but this is heavily loaded against Kerala and South India." He said South India has become a "colony" of north India.

"With the fiscal measures being adopted by the finance minister... I never expected the finance minister, being from Tamil Nadu, would be part of this game of discrimination," he said.

He said there is a new dictum being followed in this country, which is "perform and perish".

Amid the ongoing controversy around a joke by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, he said, "something happened in Mumbai, now one nation one comedian will also come".

"It is not cooperative federalism, it is coercive federalism or crony federalism that is happening," he said.

He said scrapping the Planning Commission enabled "discriminative and discretionary" ways of allocating funds by the finance ministry.

Nationalist Congress Party MP Prafful Patel, meanwhile, said under the Narendra Modi government, people are talking about the "aspirational India", and not just "garibi hatao", and "roti, kapda, makan".

He also said the US' imposition of tariffs would not impact India as we are a "net exporter" to the US. PTI AO HVA

Economic policy bias favors elite interests, prompting calls to rationalize GST and restore equitable fiscal federalism. Parliamentary debate criticised current economic policy as favouring a narrow elite 'Bombay club,' asserting that policymaking by industry, senior bureaucracy and media influencers perpetuates the middle income trap; speakers urged use of Census data for health and education planning, rationalisation of GST slabs, and warned that abolition of the Planning Commission plus centralised fiscal measures have enabled discretionary allocation and discriminatory, coercive federalism harming regional equity.