During April to June 2021 i.e. in the first quarter of the current financial year, the country’s GDP growth rate has been 20.1%. That is, the country’s GDP has seen a jump of more than 20 percent as compared to the same quarter last year. But the main reason for this jump is the huge decline recorded during the same period last year. These figures for April-June 2021 have been less than the estimates of the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank had projected a growth of 21.4 percent in GDP during this period. The latest government figures for the first quarter GDP growth rate have been released on Tuesday.
Significantly, during April-June 2020, there was a huge decline of 24.4 percent in the country’s GDP. A growth of 20.1 per cent over that quarter means that the country’s GDP during April-June 2021 is still lagging behind that of April-June 2019. The country’s GDP growth rate was 1.6 percent during the January-March 2021 quarter.
This will become even more clear by comparing the original figures of GDP. In fact, during April to June 2021, the country’s GDP was Rs 32.38 lakh crore, which is 20.1 percent more than Rs 26.95 lakh crore in April-June 2020. But two years ago i.e. in April-June 2019, the country’s GDP was Rs 35.66 lakh crore. In comparison, the GDP of the first quarter of the current financial year is still about 10 percent less than that of two years ago. This also shows that it is going to take more time for India to come out of the economic slowdown caused by Covid.
During April to June 2021, the country’s GDP was Rs 32.38 lakh crore, while two years ago i.e. during April to June 2019, it was Rs 35.66 lakh crore. Obviously, despite the growth of 20.1%, we are still lagging behind in comparison to 2019. This also shows that it is going to take more time for India to come out of the economic slowdown caused by Covid. But it is a matter of relief that the economy is now moving forward on the path of recovery.
Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE), which has contributed the most in accelerating the economic development of the country, i.e. the amount spent by the common people on consumption during April-June 2021 was about Rs 17.84 lakh crore, which was 14.95 lakh in the previous year. But this amount is still very less compared to the same period two years ago. During April-June 2019, the amount spent by the common people under PFCE in the country was Rs 20.24 lakh crore. This shows that the consumer demand of common consumers in the country has still not touched the level of two years ago.
In the last week of March last year, the Modi government implemented a nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Due to which the economic activities in the whole country had come to a halt to a great extent. For this reason, there was a historic decline in the economy. The country’s GDP declined by 7.3 percent during the last financial year ending March 31, 2021.
