DC Edit | Slowdown blues hit home

After cruising at over 13 per cent in April-June quarter of the current fiscal year, the poor performance by manufacturing and mining sectors slowed down the Indian economy to 6.3 per cent in the July-September quarter.

Data released by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation suggested that real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q2 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 38.17 lakh crores, as against Rs 35.89 lakh crores in Q2 2021-22, showing a growth of 6.3 per cent as compared to 8.4 per cent in Q2 2021-22.

Chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran, however, expressed confidence that the Indian economy would achieve a 6.8-7 per cent GDP growth in the current fiscal and would be able to navigate the headwinds in 2023 “much easily”.

Though the economic growth had declined in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, the country spent Rs 1,31,453 crores more. In the first quarter, the expenditure was Rs 36,85,125 crores, while it was Rs 38,16,578 crores in the second quarter.

Another positive aspect in the economic data is lower government expenditure in the second quarter. The government spent Rs 3,35,844 crores in Q2 FY23 compared to Rs 4,14,210 crores in Q1 FY23. Similarly, the private consumption has increased from Rs 22,07,981crores in the first quarter compared to Rs 22,29,572 crores in the second quarter.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation too has increased from Rs 12,77,806 crores in the first quarter to Rs 13,21,667 crores in the second quarter.

A lower public expenditure, higher private consumption and higher capital formation are good indicators for the robust economy. While the manufacturing growth has contracted in the July-September quarter, the components of expenditure show that the economy is indeed on the course of recovery.