India’s gross domestic product grew at 6.1% in the fourth quarter (January-March) of the fiscal year 2022-’23 and by 7.2% for the full financial year, government data showed on Wednesday.
The growth rate of 7.2% in the previous financial year is lower than the 9.1% India had recorded in 2021-’22. However, the numbers are higher than the government’s estimate of 7% growth.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis too, the growth rate of 6.1% is higher than the 4.5% recorded in the third quarter (October-December) of the financial year 2022-’23, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said.
In the March quarter, the manufacturing sector output rose to 4.5% as compared to 1.1% contraction in the previous quarter, it said. In the food sector, the output increased to 5.5% in fourth from 4.7% in the third quarter.
Last week, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that India’s GDP growth could be above 7% for the financial year 2022-’23. Das had said that nearly all high-frequency indicators showed that there was sustained momentum in the final quarter of the previous financial year.
The chief of the central bank had also said that in the financial year 2023-’24, growth in the gross domestic product is expected to be at 6.5%. Last month, the International Monetary Fund had lowered the country’s economic growth projection for 2023-’24 to 5.9% from 6.1% in January.
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