India’s GDP grew by 5.4 percent in the December quarter of the current fiscal (2021-22), lower than 8.4 per cent growth seen in the September quarter
EconomyEdited by Animesh SinghUpdated: February 28, 2022 5:38 pm IST
GDP growth stood at 5.4 percent in the December quarter of the current fiscal
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.4 percent in the December quarter of the current fiscal (2021-22), lower than the 8.4 percent growth seen in the September quarter. However, it was much higher than the 0.5 percent growth which was witnessed in the corresponding period (October-December) of the previous fiscal (2020-21).
The growth in the October-December quarter is lower than the previous quarter (July-September) basically due to falling in the growth of sectors like agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transport, and construction during the period under review, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and program implementation.
In fact, the construction sector witnessed a sharp dip in growth and went into negative territory, clocking -2.8 percent in the third quarter of the current financial year. In the second quarter of the current fiscal, it had registered a growth of 8.2 percent
In the first quarter of the current fiscal, the economic growth had been a stupendous 20.1 percent, which however was mainly due to the low base effect.
In its second advance estimates of national accounts, the National Statistical Office (NSO) has projected 8.9 percent growth in 2021-22, which is lower than its first advance estimates released in January. At that time, NSO had projected 9.2 percent growth for 2021-22 as against a contraction of 6.6 percent in 2020-21.
However, this is the fifth consecutive quarter when there has been positive growth in GDP. The economy had grown by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020-21, 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020-21, 20.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021-22, and 8.4 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
In the first two quarters of 2020-21, the growth was -24.4 percent and -7.4 percent respectively, as the country was under complete lockdown due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and all economic activities had come to a halt.
Gradually after restrictions were lifted and the festival season-related activities started from October 2020 onwards, the third and fourth quarters showed meager but positive growth.