The Indian economy expanded by 13.5 percent in the April-June quarter of FY23, helped by a low base and robust recovery in the contact-intensive sectors, official data showed on Wednesday.
In the previous quarter (January-March of FY22), the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.1 percent, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
The 13.5 percent growth rate in April-June 2022 is much lower than the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) forecast of 16.2 percent.
But the April-June GDP growth rate is the second-highest the country has ever recorded. It should also be noted that this comparable quarterly GDP data of the past is available only till 2012. The only time the Indian economy grew more than this was in April-June 2021, when the GDP had expanded by a record 20.1 percent due to an extremely strong base effect.
Economists are of the view that the economy expanded at this pace owing to a low base impact and robust recovery in the contact-intensive sectors following the widening vaccination coverage.
Many economists had predicted a strong double-digit growth rate, the median prediction for India’s GDP growth was well above 15 percent. A Reuters poll also suggested that the India economy would probably grow 15.2 percent higher during the first quarter of the current fiscal than a year earlier.
India’s GDP grew 20.1 percent in the April-June quarter of last fiscal year (FY22), but the growth reading was magnified due to the massive economic contraction of 23.8 percent in Q1 FY21 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the ensuing lockdowns.
The first-quarter growth print for India also is in contrast to China barely avoiding a contraction in the same period as the larger neighbours’ strict zero-Covid policy locked down several places of key manufacturing and tech hubs.
Meanwhile, India’s manufacturing sector grew 4.8 percent, while the construction sector posted a 16.8 percent, data released by the ministry of statistics showed on Wednesday.
