Indian Prime Minister Modi drops ministers as economy slips

FILE: PM Modi during the state visit of the President of the Republic of Singapore to India, 2015. (Photo By Narendra Modi – State Visit of the President of the Republic of Singapore to India, CC BY-SA 2.0)

NEW DELHI — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reshuffled some of his key minister’s portfolios to refurbish his government’s image, which has been dented by falling economic indicators.

Modi on Sunday named Suresh Prabhu as the new commerce and industry minister and Piyush Goyal the railways minister. Dharmendra Pradhan was promoted as oil and gas minister. Modi dropped half a dozen ministers for failing performance.

India’s economic growth rate has fallen four quarters in a row to 5.7 per cent in April-June, down from 7.

9 per cent in the same quarter last year. Exports have stagnated for the past three years.