The World Bank on Tuesday issued a revised growth projection for the Indian economy. The global financial body raised its forecast for the country to 7 per cent for the current 2024-25 fiscal year (FY25). This stood higher than the earlier estimate of 6.6 per cent.


The global bank in a report titled, ‘India Development Update: India’s Trade Opportunities in a Changing Global Context’, said that India continued to be the fastest growing major economy in the 2023-24 fiscal year (FY24) at 8.3 per cent, backed by investment in public infrastructure and a surge in household investments in real estate.


The body further noted that this change in its estimates was due to the recovery seen in the agriculture sector and demand at the rural level. The growth in the Indian economy remained robust when the global scenario continues to pose challenges, it added. Ran Li, Economist, World Bank, stated that this improvement in growth forecast could be attributed to the improvement in the monsoon season in the country and private consumption. 


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IMF and RBI's GDP Estimates


This revision follows the IMF hiking its growth estimates for the Indian economy in July by 20 basis points to 7 per cent for the current financial year, reported Business Standard. The change in the expectations was attributed to hopes of a stronger economic performance owing to factors like investment and private consumption. 


In its forecast in July, the IMF noted, “The forecast for growth in India has … been revised upward … with the change reflecting carryover from upward revisions to growth in 2023.” Earlier, the body gave a GDP projection of 6.8 per cent for the Indian economy for FY25.


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also maintained a growth projection of 7.2 per cent for FY25 in its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in August.