Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal on Friday told ANI that the Indian economy is positioned to expand very rapidly. He further said that in case the country is hit by a third coronavirus wave then the economy is well equipped to deal with it.

“Even if we do get hit by 3rd wave, we have the fiscal resources to be able to deal with it. Our fiscal deficit remains very controlled. We have the space to respond if necessary,” he said.

Further commenting on the June quarter GDP numbers, he said that “We saw 20.1% y-o-y GDP growth in April-June. It’s a very strong number. No doubt it’s based on a lower base because of lockdown in the same period in 2020. We’ll be able to hit pre-COVID level by the Oct-Dec quarter if we don’t hit 3rd wave.”

In the first quarter of the financial year 2021-22, there has been an increase in GDP growth due to the low-base effect. During the year 2020, economic activities had come to a standstill in the entire country due to the lockdown imposed for the prevention of the coronavirus pandemic. In such a situation, the pace of economic growth in the June 2021 quarter is looking great as compared to the June 2020 quarter. The GDP growth in the June 2021 quarter has remained the same as expected. Experts had projected India’s GDP growth to be only 20 percent in the first quarter.