The Indian economy grew by 7.6 per cent in 2015-16, and 7.9 per cent in the last quarter of the previous fiscal, the government data showed.
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Growth for the full financial year 2015-16 came in at 7.6%, a five-year high, compared with 7.2% the year before, the Central Statistics Office said on Tuesday. Still, India’s growth rate has overtaken that of fellow Asian giant China, which grew 6.7 per cent in the March quarter – the slowest in the world’s second largest economy in seven years.
Real federal outlays for defense were revised to show shrinkage at a 3.6% rate, same as previously reported, still subtracting 0.15% percentage points from 1st quarter GDP, while all other federal consumption and investment grew at a 1.6% rate, rather than the 1.5% growth rate previously reported, and added 0.04 percentage points to GDP, just as before.
GVA at basic prices for 2015-16 for the sector “trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting” is now estimated to have grown by 9.0 per against a growth of 9.5 per cent in the advance estimates of 2015-16.
India’s GDP has trounced expectations scoring a neat 7.9 per cent growth rate for the quarter ended March 2016. The growth in the “agriculture, forestry and fishing”, “construction”, “electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services”, “public administration, defence and other services” is estimated to be 1.2%, 3.9%, 6.6% and 6.6%, respectively.
Friday’s budget will include 1,675 billion rupees ($15.98 billion) in National Development Outlay, including 800 billion rupees ($7.63 billion) in federal funds and 875 billion rupees ($8.35 billion) in funds to the provinces, the statement said. Corporates’ share in GDP is much lower and even if GDP grows at over 7 per cent, their employment isn’t significant. Further, there is a downward revision in the absolute numbers by about Rs 5143 crore in Q2FY16 and Rs 5210 crore in Q3FY16 from the numbers released on 8th Feb 2016, considering the granular GDP data as also GVA at 2011-12 prices on a quarterly basis, as per the report. Mining and quarrying output rose at a faster rate of 8.6 percent.
US economic growth slowed in the first quarter although not as sharply as initially thought, as a surge in home building and steady inventory accumulation partially offset the drag from a steep decline in business investment.
“The short point is that – as we have cautioned since the release of the revised GDP series previous year – we should take the official GDP data, and the world-beating rates of growth they are suggesting, with a pinch of salt”.
The figure also beats the estimates of 7.5 per cent GDP growth pegged for the Indian economy.
But it says the economy pulled back by 0.2 per cent in March, following a 0.1 per cent contraction in February.
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Regarding the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy stance, the report said the central bank is expected to be on hold this year.
