New Delhi: India’s economy grew by 13.5 per cent in the April-June period this fiscal — the fastest in the last four quarters — on account of better performance by the agriculture and services sectors, official data showed on Wednesday.
India remained the fastest growing major economy as China registered economic growth of 0.4 per cent in the April-June 2022 quarter.
The Indian economy grew by 20.1 per cent in April-June 2021-22, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 8.4 per cent in July-September 2021, 5.4 per cent in October-December 2021 and 4.1 per cent in January-March 2022.
The first quarter growth at 13.5 per cent is less than the RBI’s projection of 16.2 per cent released earlier this month.
“Real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q1 2022-23 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 36.85 lakh crore, as against Rs 32.46 lakh crore in Q1 2021-22, showing a growth of 13.5 per cent as compared to 20.1 per cent in Q1 2021-22,” the NSO statement said.
The real GDP in absolute terms stood at Rs 27.03 lakh crore in the April-June quarter in 2020. It had contracted by 23.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020-21 on account of lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus.
As per the data, Gross Value Added (GVA) grew by 12.7 per cent to Rs 34.41 lakh crore in April-June this year.
The GVA growth in the farm sector is 4.5 per cent in the first quarter compared to 2.2 per cent a year ago.
However, the GVA growth in the manufacturing sector decelerated sharply to 4.8 per cent during the quarter from 49 per cent during the year-ago period.
GVA growth in mining is 6.5 per cent in the quarter compared to 18 per cent. The GVA in the construction sector also decelerated to 16.8 per cent in the quarter from 71.3 per cent.
The electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services segment grew by 14.7 per cent in the quarter compared to 13.8 per cent a year ago.
GVA growth in the services sector — trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting — was 25.7 per cent during the first quarter against 34.3 per cent.
Financial, real estate and professional services grew by 9.2 per cent in the first quarter over 2.3 per cent earlier.
Public administration, defence and other services posted 26.3 per cent growth against 6.2 per cent in the first quarter of last fiscal.
The NSO stated that the Nominal GDP or GDP at Current Prices in Q1 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 64.95 lakh crore against Rs 51.27 lakh crore in Q1 2021-22, showing a growth of 26.7 per cent compared to 32.4 per cent a year ago.
Core sector output contracts to six-month low of 4.5% in Jul
The output of eight core infrastructure sectors contracted to six-month low of 4.5 per cent in July against 9.9 per cent in the year-ago period, according to official data released on Wednesday.
The output of these infrastructure sectors expanded by 13.2 per cent in June, 19.3 per cent in May, 9.5 per cent in April, 4.8 per cent in March, 5.9 per cent in February and 4 per cent in January.
The production growth of eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity — was 11.5 per cent in April-July this fiscal against 21.4 per cent a year ago.
Crude oil and natural gas production contracted by 3.8 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, during the month under review.
In July, the fertiliser output rose by 6.2 per cent against 0.6 per cent in the same month last year.
The growth rate in the output of coal, refinery products, steel, cement and electricity slowed down to 11.4 per cent, 6.2 per cent, 5.7 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.
Commenting on the numbers, domestic rating agency Ind-Ra said that the year-on-year growth in the core sector output sharply decelerated to a six-month low of 4.5 per cent in July.
“Ind-Ra believes that the ongoing recovery has still a long way to go because the output of some of the core segments is still lower than the pre-pandemic level,” the agency said.
Fiscal deficit touches 20.5% of annual target in Apr-Jul: Official data
The central government’s fiscal deficit touched 20.5 per cent of the annual target at the end of July 2022-23 against 21.3 per cent a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance, as per official data released on Wednesday.
In actual terms, the fiscal deficit – the difference between expenditure and revenue – was Rs 3,40,831 crore during the April-July period this financial year.
A fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings from the market.
As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the government’s receipts, including taxes, stood at Rs 7.85 lakh crore or 34.4 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2022-23. During the year-ago period, it was nearly the same at 34.6 per cent.
The tax revenue stood at Rs 6.66 lakh crore or 34.4 per cent of this year’s BE. Last year too, the government had managed to mop 34.2 per cent of its annual estimate during April-July.
The data further revealed that the central government’s total expenditure was Rs 11.26 lakh crore or 28.6 per cent of the BE 2022-23, almost same as in the year-ago period.
Capital expenditure was 27.8 per cent of the full-year budget target compared to 23.2 per cent in the corresponding period last year, as per the monthly account of the Union government up to July 2022, released by the CGA.
For 2022-23, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be Rs 16.61 lakh crore or 6.4 per cent of the GDP.
