GDP growth rate plays down note ban worry, 7% growth recorded in Q3
For a country that saw 86 percent of its currency sucked out overnight, India’s economy is surprisingly resilient.
India's annual economic growth slowed to 7.0 percent in the three months through December from a revised 7.4 percent expansion in the previous quarter, but it was much stronger than expected, government data showed on Tuesday.
The statistics office also retained the growth forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2017 at 7.1 percent. "The numbers negate the downward trend. Manufacturing is intact, unaffected by demonetisation and the remonetisation exercise has nearly been complete," said Shaktikanta Das, economic affairs secretary.
This also means India keeps the tag of fastest growing major economy in the world. China had clocked 6.8% growth in the December quarter.
Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian last month said the official GDP figures may not fully reflect the "real and significant hardships" experienced by the informal sector, in which an estimated nine out of 10 Indian workers are employed.
But the pain, according to Centre, will be short-lived. "This is much higher than expectations. Perhaps this data is not capturing the impact of demonetisation. I am totally surprised and stunned to see this number. This is totally ahead of our expectations and I believe that, with a lag, we will see an impact on GDP numbers," said Aneesh Srivastava of IDBI.
Earlier, Paris-based think tank OECD today cut India's growth forecast to 7 per cent for 2016-17 in view of demonetisation, but said the pace will accelerate to 7.3 per cent in the next fiscal.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had in February last year projected the country's economy to expand at 7.4 per cent in 2016-17.
"India has been a star performer in gloomy times. We do not have many cases of 7 per cent growth... It is a top reformer among all the G-20 countries," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told reporters here.
The organisation forecast the country's economic growth to rise further to 7.7 per cent in 2018-19.
India's annual economic growth slowed to 7.0 percent in the three months through December from a revised 7.4 percent expansion in the previous quarter, but it was much stronger than expected, government data showed on Tuesday.
The statistics office also retained the growth forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2017 at 7.1 percent. "The numbers negate the downward trend. Manufacturing is intact, unaffected by demonetisation and the remonetisation exercise has nearly been complete," said Shaktikanta Das, economic affairs secretary.
This also means India keeps the tag of fastest growing major economy in the world. China had clocked 6.8% growth in the December quarter.
Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian last month said the official GDP figures may not fully reflect the "real and significant hardships" experienced by the informal sector, in which an estimated nine out of 10 Indian workers are employed.
But the pain, according to Centre, will be short-lived. "This is much higher than expectations. Perhaps this data is not capturing the impact of demonetisation. I am totally surprised and stunned to see this number. This is totally ahead of our expectations and I believe that, with a lag, we will see an impact on GDP numbers," said Aneesh Srivastava of IDBI.
Earlier, Paris-based think tank OECD today cut India's growth forecast to 7 per cent for 2016-17 in view of demonetisation, but said the pace will accelerate to 7.3 per cent in the next fiscal.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had in February last year projected the country's economy to expand at 7.4 per cent in 2016-17.
"India has been a star performer in gloomy times. We do not have many cases of 7 per cent growth... It is a top reformer among all the G-20 countries," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told reporters here.
The organisation forecast the country's economic growth to rise further to 7.7 per cent in 2018-19.
