India's GDP Grows 8.7% In FY22, Q4 Growth Slows To 4.1%

The Indian economy grew 8.4% in the previous financial year ending March 31 this year, and 4.1% in last quarter (Q4) of the financial year (January to March 2022), data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) shows.

These numbers are largely in line with expectations. A Reuters polls of 46 economists put the quarterly growth at 4%, while the second advanced estimate of MOSPI projected the growth to be 8.9% for the previous year.

However, this also is the third consecutive quarter of slowing growth. In the second quarter, growth came in at 8.4% and 5.4% in the third quarter, all measured year on year.

The average Indian was also left 7.6% richer, as measured by the GDP per capita (or the GDP divided by the Indian population). In FY21, this was ₹1,00,032, which rose to ₹1,07,620.

Events of significant effects transpired in Q4. India saw a resurgence of cases led by the omicron variant of the coronavirus and military conflict breaking out in Ukraine on February 24, with the latter causing disruption in global food and energy markets.

"Real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2021-22 is estimated to attain a level of ₹ 147.36 lakh crore, as against the First Revised Estimate of ₹ 135.58 lakh crore for the year 2020-21, released on 31.01.2022. The growth in GDP during 2021-22 is estimated at 8.7 percent as compared to a contraction of 6.6 percent in 2020-21", the release said.

Further, the income side of various sectors of the economy, measured by the gross value added, grew 3.9% quarterly (again measured over the same period in the previous year).

For the last full financial year, the International Monetary Fund had estimated a growth of 8.2% and 6.9% for the ongoing financial year.

The release also carries a cautionary note: the estimates are likely to undergo revision in subsequent releases on improved data collection, and this should factor into users' interpretation of these number.

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Performance of select indicators

MOSPI has also highlighted the performance in several main indicators (measured year-on-year over the corresponding quarter in the previous financial year).

• The production of rice grew 10.9% in the last quarter
• Commercial vehicle sales grew 18.8%
• Passengers handled at airports grew 13.3%
• However, the consumption of steel was stagnant, growing only 0.2%
• Purchase of private vehicles though took a hit, falling 19.2%
• The production of crude oil and total telephone subscribers too took a hit, falling 2.7% and 2.9% respectively

Find the release here.

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