Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has been in the news since he insisted that the actual GDP growth was approximately 2.6%, contrasting with the government’s estimate of 7.8%. This assertion was later debunked and he amended his evaluation, arguing that the figure was “definitely around 5%.”
While Garg has been occupied with discrediting the government’s economic policies and their tangible impacts, an interesting incident has surfaced, bringing to attention his dubious conduct during his time in the union finance ministry. According to Devendra Parashar, political editor at India TV, Garg, a former IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, spent nearly three decades in the state bureaucracy who occupied several high-profile positions at both the state and central levels. In 2014, he was appointed Executive Director (ED) for the World Bank Group, where he served until 2017. He subsequently became associated with the Union Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs.
Parashar recounted that the friction started to unfold in 2018, when Urjit Patel resigned as RBI Governor and Garg emerged as the government’s principal representative in the matter. “A major controversy erupted after the 2019 general election as Nirmala Sitharaman prepared to table the Union Budget in July. She, along with senior officials, made a detailed presentation to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the budget was unveiled in the Parliament,” he conveyed during “Coffee Par Kurukshetra” program on India TV on 2nd September (Wednesday).
@DParashar17 provides background about former Finance Secretary SC Garg and shares about a shocking incident that occurred before the 2019 budget involving Honourable FM.
— Sougat Chakraborty (@sougat18) September 3, 2026
He also cites his off the record conversation with sources in the Finance Ministry and their reaction on… pic.twitter.com/Sl0UiU6ukm
The journalist disclosed, “During this time, however, slides were displayed that caught Sitharaman completely off guard. She stood up and pointed out that she had not been shown them earlier and didn’t know about their contents. The country’s Finance Minister was unaware of material being presented directly before the Prime Minister who took note of the situation and stopped the meeting.”
He mentioned, “Afterwards, a series of disagreements were reported between Garg and Sitharaman. The Union Budget was presented on 5th July and Garg was transferred around 26th July. He has long been portrayed as an officer with a ‘my way or the highway’ approach, often willing to lock horns with fellow officials and those in positions of authority.”
Parashar stated that Garg subsequently took VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme), remarking, “He has been actively writing on various policies since then and has faced fact-checking multiple times regarding his false claims.”
The journalist also highlighted, “Garg would not have made such statements if PM Modi or others had not discussed the GDP numbers. He must have been troubled by the positive discourse surrounding the economic policies of the government. I was conversing with a prominent officer in the finance ministry, and these officials do not adhere to a single political ideology or anything of the sort. The officer expressed that he feels ashamed to have worked with such a person as a colleague.”
