India’s GDP growth slows to 4.4% in October-December quarter: India’s GDP growth rate fell for the second straight quarter in the October-December period, coming in at 4.4 percent, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
February 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
The 3rd Quarter(Q3) GDP Growth:
At 4.4 percent, the latest quarterly growth number is lower than the 6.3 percent growth that was recorded in the second quarter of 2022-23, which itself was less than half the 13.2 percent increase posted in April-June 2022 as the GDP growth rate benefitted from a low base in the early part of the year.
RBI’s forecasts of The Fiscal Year 2023-24 GDP Growth:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) forecasted 4.4 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 in December. However, at the time, the central bank had projected this year’s growth rate at 6.8 percent.
But as per the statistics ministry’s first advance estimate of GDP, released in early January, India’s GDP was set to grow by 7 percent in 2022-23. The government’s second advance estimate, released on February 28, maintained India’s full-year GDP growth estimate of 7% for this year.
Manufacturing: A cause of concern:
According to data released by the National Statistical Office, India’s GDP growth slowed to a three-quarter low of 4.4% in October-December 2022-23, primarily due to a 1.1% contraction in manufacturing, as well as weaker private consumption demand and government expenditure (NSO). Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said manufacturing, on the face of it, has slowed down but there are enough high-frequency indicators showing fairly robust manufacturing activity. “Manufacturing appears to have slowed down on the face of it due to rising input cost, but if you look at PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) indicators, the manufacturing sector is in good health and performance of core sector in January tells us we do have a fairly robust manufacturing growth rate in the fourth quarter,” he said.
7 percent GDP growth in this Fiscal Year(2023-24):
“Despite the global slowdown, India is poised to achieve 7% GDP growth in 2022-23,” Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said in a press conference following the release of the GDP figures. “The growth momentum carried on in October-December and it was the base effect which resulted in a GDP growth rate of 4.4 percent,” the CEA added. The gross value added (GVA) growth for the third quarter came in at 4.6 percent during the third quarter, as against 5.5 percent in the July-September period.
Consumption increased by 2.1 percent between October and December, compared to 8.8 percent between July and September. The capital formation growth also slipped to 8.3 percent in the third quarter, as against 9.7 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
The Real & Nominal GDP Growth for This Fiscal Year(2023-24):
According to the second advance estimate, the country’s real GDP growth for FY23 is expected to be 7%. This is the same estimate that was shared in the first advance estimate. The nominal GDP growth is pegged at 15.9 percent in the second advance estimate, which is up from 15.4 percent in the first advance estimate. The government also reduced GDP growth for the April-June quarter from 13.5 percent to 13.2 percent.