With Q3 GDP growth recorded at 0.4%, India is out of recession

According to the data of the National Statistical Office (NSO) India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Third Quarter (Q3) of 2020-21 grew 0.4 percent with development in manufacturing, construction, and Agriculture. This is mainly due to good performance by the farm, services, and construction sectors, as shown by official data showed on Friday.

The GDP had dropped off in the first quarter by 24.4 percent this fiscal following the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns. In the second quarter, the GDP decline reduced to 7.3 percent due to the sudden gush in the economic activities.

On revising the annual GDP estimates of 2020-21, it was foretold that an 8 percent contradiction for the full year 2020-21, as against the earlier estimates of 7.7 percent.

The Finance Ministry called the 0.4% real GDP growth in the Third Quarter as a return to the pre-pandemic times of positive growth rates and a reflection of a further firming of V-shaped recovery that began in the Second Quarter. He warned that India was not yet out of the danger of pandemics.

The agriculture sector noted a growth of 3.9 percent in the quarter under review compared to the 3 percent growth in July-September. The manufacturing sector production grew by 1.6 percent in the current quarter.

Mining, trade, hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting services, and public administration services continued to stay in the negative territory and suffer on account of coronavirus pandemic this fiscal registering a contraction of 5.9 percent, 7.7 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively.

In January 2020 the core sectors have expanded by 2.2 percent, according to the provisional data released by the commerce and industry ministry.

For the current and next fiscal year, economists have raised their forecasts and are expecting an increase in consumer demand, government spending and reopening of most economic activities.