Economic activity will pick up, manufacturing may see revival in the next fiscal, say experts
By Anuradha Shukla | Express News Service | Published: 06th January 2018 08:42 AM |
Last Updated: 06th January 2018 08:42 AM | A+A A- |
Image used for representational purpose.
NEW DELHI: While the Central Statistics Office (CSO) painted a not-so-rosy picture for the economy in the current year, some experts feel things will look up by the time the country moves to the next financial year.
Commenting on the advance growth estimate released by the CSO here on Friday, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said that the GDP growth will become more robust in 2018-19.“The economic activity has been picking up over the past three quarters and can be expected to strengthen in the coming period,” he said.
While experts feel the manufacturing sector may see some revival in the fourth quarter, the agriculture sector could remain a drag. There is consensus among experts that growth will be likely below 7 per cent in the next fiscal as well.
“For FY18 as a whole, we continue to expect GVA and GDP growth to print at 6.5 per cent and 6.7 percent, respectively, higher than the advance estimates of 6.1 per cent and 6.5 per cent,” said Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA.
According to global ratings agency Fitch, the country has the potential to grow at an average of 6.7 per cent per annum over the next five years.
Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economist adviser at SBI, said: “Second half GDP numbers should be better than CSO’s estimates. GDP won’t deviate much from prediction. I think the GVA estimate is conservative. It should be around 6.3 per cent.”
The second advance estimates of national income for the year 2017-18 and quarterly GDP estimate for the third quarter will be released on February 28.
