India’s economic growth slipped to 5.8% in January-March – slowest in over four years
With this data, India lost its tag of the fastest growing major economy to China.
India lost its tag of the fastest growing major economy to China after the government announced on Friday that the growth rate in its Gross Domestic Product had declined to 5.8% in the last quarter of the financial year 2018-’19. This was the slowest pace of growth in 17 quarters, according to Reuters. The growth in October-December 2018 was 6.6%.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation also revised the GDP growth for 2018-’19 downwards to 6.8% from 7.0% estimated earlier. The economy had grown at a rate of 7.2% in 2017-’18.
Earlier in the day, Nirmala Sitharaman was named finance minister in the new Narendra Modi-led government.
India’s GDP at constant prices, using 2011-’12 as the base year, stood at Rs 140.78 lakh crore during 2018-’19, as against Rs 131.80 lakh crore during 2017-’18, the data released on Friday showed. The Gross Value Added at constant prices was estimated at Rs 129.07 lakh crore, a growth of 6.6%. The GVA is defined as the GDP adjusted for the impact of subsidies and tariffs on goods and services.
The government said that the construction sector grew the most, at 8.7% in the 2018-’19 financial year, followed by public administration, defence and other services at 8.6%. The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector showed a growth rate of 2.9%, down from 5% in 2017-’18. The mining and quarrying sector grew at just 1.3% compared to 5.1% in the previous financial year.
The manufacturing sector grew at 6.9% in 2018-’19, compared to 5.9% the previous financial year. The financial, real estate and professional services sector grew at 7.4% as against the previous year’s growth rate of 6.2%.
India’s Gross National Income stood at Rs 139.32 lakh crore during 2018-’19, the Centre said, as against Rs 130.34 lakh crore in 2017-’18. This marked a growth of 6.9%, compared to 7.2% in 2017-’18.
The per capita income of the country stood at Rs 92,565 for the 2018-’19 year, compared to Rs 87,623 in 2017-’18. The per capita income grew at 5.6% the last financial year, compared to 5.7% in 2017-’18.