NEWS

India’s GDP slows to 4.4% in December quarter

The slowdown was primarily due to a 1.1% contraction in manufacturing, along with weaker private consumption demand and government expenditure.

India’s economic growth slowed down to 4.4% in the quarter ended December 2022, from 6.3% in the previous quarter and 11.2% in the year-ago quarter.

The slowdown of the GDP to a three-quarter low was primarily due to a 1.1% contraction in manufacturing, along with weaker private consumption demand and government expenditure, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday showed.

In the July-September quarter, the GDP was at 6.3% while it was 13.2% in April-June quarter. 

For the full financial year 2022-23, the NSO has retained the growth estimate at 7% in the second advance estimates.

The NSO has revised the GDP growth for 2021-22 to 9.1% against the earlier estimate of 8.7%. The GDP for the Covid-period of 2020-21 was also revised upwards to (-) 5.8% instead of (-) 6.6% earlier.

The fiscal’s fourth quarter GDP estimate at 5.1% is way higher than the projection of 4.2% given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its December policy review. The RBI’s growth estimate for the full-fiscal is 6.8% while the government’s forecast is 7%.

Private consumption expenditure slowed sharply to 2.1% in October-December from 10.8% a year ago and 8.8% in the preceding quarter.

Manufacturing remained negative for the second consecutive quarter at (-)1.1% in October-December as against (-) 3.6% in April-June and 1.3% growth in the year-ago period.