India GDP growth: As per the official data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) has surged by 7.8% in the first quarter of current fiscal year (Q1FY24), compared to 6.1% in the previous January-March quarter of 2022-23 and 4.5% in October-November.
The GDP gorwth rate in the first quarter of last financial year stood at 13.1%.
The nominal GDP or GDP at current prices in Q1FY24 is estimated at Rs 70.67 lakh crore, as against Rs 65.42 lakh crore in Q1FY23, showing a growth of 8% compared to 27.7% in the year ago period, the data showed.
The figures beat the earlier estimates which predicted the economic growth to accelerate to 7.7% in the June quarter on strong demand, robust service sector growth and increased government expenditure.
Given the latest numbers, India remains the fastest-growing major economy as China’s GDP growth in the April-June quarter was 6.3 per cent.
“This once again makes India the fastest growing major economy, a position the country is likely to maintain for several years. Yet, we do not expect this pace to continue for the rest of the year and see the yearly growth at 6.2 per cent. But that too is a very good performance against the current global backdrop,” Sujan Hajra, Chief Economist & Executive Director, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said.
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According to reports, companies in the information technology, hotels and transport industries are expanding and could bring more business to the the services sector, which contributes to more than half of GDP. Double-digit credit growth in the financial services sector is also helping.
This pick-up in services sector activity could continue over the second quarter and would aid growth in private consumption, Gaurav Kapur, chief economist, IndusInd Bank said on the same line.
Other important growth figures:
– The country’s infrastructure output grew 8% year-on-year (YoY) in July. The July core sector output print came in lower than the 8.2 per cent mark registered in June.
– India recorded April-June private consumption growth at 6.0% as against 2.8% in January-March and 19.8% in April-June 2022
– The April-June government expenditure growth declined by 0.7% as against 2.3% in the previous quarter and 1.8% in the same period last year.
– The agriculture sector has recorded a 3.5% growth over 2.4% in the Q1FY23. The sector reported a 5.5% uptick in the preceding quarter ending March.
– The growth in the manufacturing sector was disappointing and decelerated to 4.7 % in Q1FY24 compared to 6.1% in the year-ago period.
