NEW DELHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday increased its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India in 2023-2024 to 6.7% from an earlier projection of 6.3% in October last year.
For the financial year 2024-25, it raised the growth outlook by 20 basis points to 6.5%. The global fund has also raised its growth forecast for 2025-26 by 20 basis points to 6.5%.
“Growth in India is projected to remain strong at 6.5% in both 2024 and 2025, with an upgrade from October of 0.2 percentage point for both years, reflecting resilience in domestic demand,” the International Monetary Fund said in its update to the World Economic Outlook report.
The upward revision in growth forecasts comes just ahead of the presentation of the 2024-25 interim Budget, where it is anticipated that the Indian finance ministry will continue to implement measures aimed at enhancing financial stability and growth prospects.
Meanwhile, the report also added that the growth in emerging and developing Asia is expected to decline from an estimated 5.4% in 2023 to 5.2% in 2024 and 4.8% in 2025, with an upgrade of 0.4 percentage point for 2024 over the October 2023 projections, attributable to China’s economy.
“Growth in China is projected at 4.6% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2025, with an upward revision of 0.4 percentage point for 2024 since the October 2023 WEO. The upgrade reflects carryover from stronger-than expected growth in the year 2023 and increased government spending on capacity building against natural disasters,” it said.
The statistics ministry has projected a real growth rate of 7.3% for 2023-24. Notably, in the month of November 2023, the government had reported stellar GDP data at 7.6% in July-September quarter and 7.8% in April-June quarter.
The finance ministry in its January 29 report stated that the Indian economy’s growth rate could be nearly 7% in financial year 2024-25.