India's GDP Grows 4.1 Per Cent In Q4, 8.7 Per Cent In FY22, Shows Govt Data

Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said that sequential growth was low due to Omicron wave in January, while adding that stagflationary risk to India quite low compared to other countries

GDP growth in the January-March period was slower than the 5.4 per cent expansion in the previous October-December quarter of 2021-22.

Source : Getty

New Delhi: India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.1 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY22, pushing up the annual growth rate to 8.7 per cent, government data showed on Tuesday.

However, growth in the January-March period was slower than the 5.4 per cent expansion in the previous October-December quarter of 2021-22.

According to the data released the National Statistical Office (NSO), the economy had expanded by 2.5 per cent in the corresponding January-March period of 2020-21.

The economy expanded by 8.7 per cent in FY22 against a 6.6 per cent contraction in FY21. The NSO, in its second advance estimate, had projected GDP growth during 2021-22 at 8.9 per cent.

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said, "Sequential growth was low due to Omicron wave in January," while adding, “Stagflationary risk to India quite low compared to other countries."

Speaking on the on Q4 GDP data for FY22, Vivek Rathi, Director (Research), Knight Frank India, said, "Global spill overs of supply shortages, crude oil shock and higher input costs thwarted India’s growth momentum in 4Q FY22. The impact of these factors was widely witnessed in high frequency mining, manufacturing, and construction indicators.  So far in FY23, recovery in India’s domestic macros have been resilient to risks arising from global developments; however, supply side challenges and inflation spikes, which could dampen consumption and investments in the economy, poses near term risk to India’s economic growth."

Meanwhile, China had registered an economic growth of 4.8 per cent in the first three months of 2022.

The numbers were being released amid soaring the surging inflation, which has compelled the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to slash the key lending rates by 40 basis points.

On the other hand, India’s FY22 fiscal deficit has been contained at 6.7 per cent of GDP as against the government’s revised estimate of 6.9 per cent of GDP, according to the government’s latest readings. FY22 fiscal deficit stands at Rs 15.87 lakh crore, 99.7 per cent of revised target, data released on Tuesday by the Controller General of Accounts said.

The near-term prospects of the economy have been darkened by a spike in retail inflation, which hit an eight-year high of 7.8 per cent in April. 

Most analysts have predicted the January-March 2022 growth to be lower at 2.7-4.5 per cent than the 5.4 per cent reported in the previous quarter.

Core Sector Growth

On the other hand, eight infrastructure sectors grew by 8.4 per cent in April against 62.6 per cent expansion in the year-ago period, according to official data released on Tuesday.

The output of eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity had expanded by 4.9 per cent in March 2022.

The core sector had witnessed an exceptionally high growth rate of 62.6 per cent in April 2021 mainly due to the low base effect.

The output of crude oil contracted by 0.9 per cent against a 2.1 per cent decline in April, the data showed.