GDP grew by 0.4% in October-December quarter of current fiscal

Modi government has released GDP figures. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian economy grew by 0.4 percent in the third quarter October-December after two consecutive quarterly declines in the current financial year.

This information has been given in the data released on Friday by the National Statistics Office (NSO). Earlier, the economy grew by 3.3 percent in the same quarter of the financial year 2019-20.

The second advance estimate of the National Accounts of the NSO estimates an 8 percent drop in the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020-21. In January, the NSO had forecast a 7.7 percent decline in the economy in the current financial year 2020-21. A year ago in 2019-20, there was a 4 percent increase in GDP.

The economy had declined by 24.4 percent in the first quarter of the current financial year due to the Coronavirus pandemic and ‘lockdown’ for its prevention. At the same time, GDP fell by 7.3 percent in the second quarter of July-September. China’s economy grew by 6.5 percent in October-December 2020. At the same time, the growth rate in July-September was 4.9 percent.

Many agencies were already saying that the economy could remain positive in the third quarter. Due to the government’s efforts to bring the economy back on track, rating agencies are beginning to see an increase in economic growth in India.

A few days ago, given the increase in economic activity, rating agency Moody’s raised India’s GDP growth estimate from 10.8 per cent to 13.7 per cent in FY 2021-22. Moody’s believes that the pace of economic activity and the entry of Covid-19 vaccine into the market can lead to a rapid recovery in India’s economy. Along with this, the agency reduced the estimate of GDP decline from the current 10.6 per cent to 7 per cent during the current financial year.