New Delhi: With a slowdown seen in the key sectors like agriculture, industry and manufacturing in the past nine months that triggered unemployment growth rate to some extent, India’s economic growth rate slipped to five-year low of 5.8 per cent in January-March 2018-19.
Amid lower public spending and consumption demand, the government confirmed the sense of slowdown fears among aam admi on the eve of assuming its office with some expectations of a wide-ranging policy impetus to turnaround the country’s economy. The data came on the day when Nirmala Sitharaman took charge as the new finance minister in the second innings of the Narendra Modi government.
According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday, India’s gross domestic product or GDP growth slowed to 5.8 per cent in the January-March quarter of FY2018-19, the lowest in 17 quarters, as against 6.6 per cent in the December quarter. With this data India lost fastest-growing large economy tag to China for the first time in two-year as China’s economy posted 6.4 per cent growth in the March quarter.
Reacting the slowdown in Q4 GDP, economic affairs secretary S.C. Garg said that it was due to temporary factors like stress in NBFC sector. Mr Garg is also hopeful that economy will be on an upward movement from second quarter onward. “I think first quarter of the current fiscal may also witness relatively slow growth, but economy to pick up second quarter onward,” said Garg.
The CSO also revealed that GDP growth during 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8 per cent, lower than 7.2 per cent in the previous financial year.
“The growth in GDP was slowest since 2014-15. The previous low was 6.4 per cent in 2013-14. The fourth quarter growth was below China’s 6.4 per cent,” the data said.
