NEW DELHI: India’s economic growth is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s projection, government data released on Wednesday showed. However, GDP growth at 6.3% in the three-month period of July-September slowed when compared with the 8.4% growth registered in the same quarter a year ago and 13.5% during April-June 2022.
A relatively slower GDP expansion notwithstanding, India continues to remain the fastest-growing major economy ahead of China which registered an economic growth of 3.9% in July-September 2022.
“Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q2 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 38.17 lakh crore, as against Rs 35.89 lakh crore in Q2 2021-22, showing a growth of 6.3% as compared to 8.4% in Q2 2021-22,” the National Statistical Office (NSO) said while releasing the data for the second quarter on Wednesday.
The latest GDP growth data is impressive, according to Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran. He said India is very much on track to achieving 6.8%-7% growth in the current financial year. The country has managed to maintain robust growth momentum despite challenges in the global economy, he added. This, he said, can be gauged from various economic indicators including festival sales, PMI (purchasing managers’ index), bank credit growth and auto sales data.
According to the data released by the CSO, the manufacturing and mining sectors dragged the growth rate, contracting 4.3% and 2.8%, respectively. The data also showed that private consumption eased sequentially (0.5% in the September quarter vs 0.8% in the June quarter) due to high inflation and uneven recovery impacting rural consumption demand. Government consumption momentum continued to contract, though investment in asset creation witnessed robust sequential growth of 5% against 1.0% in the previous quarter due to lagged effects of easier monetary policies and the government’s capex push.
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Factory output slows
The growth rate in the production of eight key sectors slowed down to a 20-month low of 0.1% in October on account of contraction in the output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, and cement
Fiscal deficit widens
Fiscal deficit the difference between expenditure and revenue touched Rs 7,58,137 crore during April-October 2022, which is 45.6% of full-year target of Rs 16.61 lakh crore