New Delhi: India on Friday reported economic growth of 7.3 percent for 2014-15, up from 6.8 per cent the previous year but missing by a whisker the government's own forecast. The growth rate for the financial year ended March 31, 2015 came in slightly lower than the 7.4 per cent that the statistics ministry had predicted back in February. Friday's figures were the first Gross Domestic Product data to be released since the government introduced a revised formula for calculating GDP that has baffled analysts.
Asia's third-largest economy grew by 7.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 6.6 percent in Q3, India's Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reported. India's government changed the way it calculates GDP back in January, with officials saying the new method was closer to international standards. The main change is that India now measures its economic growth at market prices to incorporate 'gross value addition' in goods and services as well as indirect taxes. The base year to calculate India's GDP has also been advanced to 2011-12 from 2004-05.
But analysts say that the new data does not correlate with some other economic indicators, including last year's industrial production figures and corporate profits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stormed to power in general elections last May on pledges to reform and revive the ailing economy and attract much-needed foreign investment.
