Kolkata Dec 20 PTI Amit Mitra West Bengals former finance minister and current chief advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said he fears India may be heading towards stagflation Mitra an economist by training said India is already suffering from rising inflation and unemployment simultaneously Wholesale inflation is 142 per cent and unemployment has expanded by 1048 per cent Now without private investment increasing we may be heading toward stagflation Mitra said speaking virtually at the CFO Leadership Summit organised by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India Stagflation is defined as situation with persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a countrys economy Mitra said India is facing such a precarious situation due to faulty economic policies of the Union government which began with demonitisation in 2016 followed by launching a complex Goods and Services Tax and now wrong policies to manage the economy in the Covid times that does not boost private investment or empower people to spend more Infrastructure capital expenditure resorted to by the Government will have a time lag and we need immediate spending and for that the government has to give money directly into the hands of the people Union finance minister accepts private investment is not happening and is asking different departments to spur public capex but that will not yield immediate results he said Speaking of West Bengal Mitra claimed the state had adopted the right policies including lowering stamp duty and circle rates to boost private sector investment which he said led to a positive state GDP growth of 12 per cent when the country had a de-growth of 77 per cent in FY21 Many countries put money into the hands of their population to revive the economy he said However this has not been replicated in India As a result India has ranked among the most unequal country in the World Inequality Report 2022 where top one per cent of the population now controls 22 per cent of the national income and bottom 50 per cent has a share of just 13 per cent of the countrys income the former state finance minister said PTI BSM JRC JRC