NEW DELHI: The growth of India’s eight core sectors slowed to 7.8% in November — the lowest in the past six months — official data on Friday showed. In October, the corresponding growth rate stood at 12.1%. In November last year, it was at 5.7%, as per data revised by the ministry.
During the period of April to November, the overall production of the core industries recorded a year-on-year growth of 8.6%, as against 8.1% in the same period in the previous fiscal year. The decline in core sector growth in November can be primarily attributed to the contraction in the cement sector, which saw a year-on-year decline of 3.6%. Only coal and refinery products demonstrated sequential growth.
On the positive side, fiscal deficit shrank to Rs 9.1 lakh crore or 50% of the FY24 budget target in April-November FY24 — from Rs 9.8 lakh crore in April-November FY23. During the April-November period of the previous year, fiscal deficit stood at 58.9% of the budget estimates. The government aims to limit the fiscal deficit for 2023-24 to Rs 17.86 lakh crore, equivalent to 5.9% of the GDP. The plan is to eventually bring it under 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26 as part of the fiscal consolidation strategy.
According to Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist with ICRA Ltd, overall the fiscal deficit target of Rs 17.9 lakh for FY24 may not be breached. “However, a lower nominal GDP than what the Union Budget had penciled in, could result in the fiscal deficit printing at 6% of GDP,” she said.