New Delhi, Jan 19: The credit-rating body India Ratings predicted a growth rate of 7.1 per cent for the Indian economy in the next fiscal. It claimed that the improvement in the GDP growth from the current 6.5 per cent will be driven by robust consumer demand and low commodity prices.
In its outlook for 2018-19, the agency said there will be a gradual pickup in growth momentum, owing to structural reforms like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
Earlier in the month, the growth in GDP during 2017-18 was estimated at 6.5 per cent, as compared to the growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2016-17, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation noted. ”The growth in GDP during 2017-18 is estimated at 6.5 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 7.1 per cent in 2016- 17,” it said.
As per the CSO data, the expansion in activities in ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ is likely to slow to 2.1 per cent in the current fiscal from 4.9 per cent in the preceding year. The growth in manufacturing sector too is expected to decelerate to 4.6 per cent this fiscal, down from 7.9 per cent in 2016-17.
However, the World Bank stated that the GDP is expected to grow by 6.7 per cent in financial year 2017-18 and will pick up to 7.3 per cent in 2018-19, and to 7.5 per cent a year in the medium term.
In a report titled ‘Global Economic Prospects’ for 2018, the World Bank noted that the GDP figures of 6.7 per cent for FY 2017-18 can be attributed to short-term disruptions arising from the introduction of the GST.
(Inputs from ANI)