New Delhi: India’s GDP accelerated in the July-September 2015-16 period (second quarter) to 7.4 per cent to overtake China as the fastest growing major economy in the world.
The Indian economy had grown by seven per cent in April-June (first quarter) of 2015-16. This takes the overall growth in the first six months of 2015-16 to 7.2 per cent.
The growth in second quarter was due to green shoots in the manufacturing sector which came at 9.3 per cent against 7.2 per cent in the first quarter. The farm sector, too, grew at 2.2 per cent in the second quarter against 1.9 per cent in the first quarter despite a deficient monsoon. However, the services sector growth slowed marginally to 8.8 per cent in the second quarter from 8.9 per cent in the first quarter.
China had reported an annual growth of 6.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2015-16. “I think the second quarter figures give us a sense of satisfaction... We expect growth this year to be better than last year and even better the next year,” said Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
He added that the manufacturing sector recorded “significant” growth in the September quarter despite an adverse global situation and hoped that private sector investment would pick up faster in the coming quarters. “And when manufacturing starts turning despite globally adverse circumstances, I think that’s a significant figure from our point of view,” he said.
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