Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today lauded the upward movement of the GDP number for the second quarter of 2017-18. He said that the rise in growth after five quarters marks the reversal of the trend and the economy will witness high growth rates in the coming quarters.
At a press meet here after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the GDP for Q2, which stood at Rs 31.66 lakh crore or a growth of 6.3 per cent, Jaitley said “while this was broadly an initial analysis of the figures, "hopefully we can take to higher growth rate in the coming quarters.”
"Last five quarters have witnessed downward trend. The 6.3 per cent rise during Q2 of 2017-18 marks the reversal of that trend. This additionally indicates that the impact of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax is now behind us and hopefully in the coming quarters will take an upward trajectory," Arun Jaitley said.
The Minister noted that the most significant aspect is the fact that this quarter's positive result has been impacted significantly by the growth in manufacturing.
Earlier, Chief Statistician of India (CSI) TCA Anant had said that 'after almost 5 quarters of decline, GDP marks a reversal which is very encouraging'. He had informed that good growth figures -- - manufacturing reported growth of 7%, electricity, electricity, gas and water supply grew at 7.6 % and trade hotels, transport and communication grew at 9.9%, pushed the GDP.
Anant had, however, noted that construction continues to be low.
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Arun Jaitley said if one looked at the overall picture since May 2014, out of 13 quarters the economy clicked 7 per cent growth eight times.
"We have fallen behind 6 per cent only once. This marks a reversal and it has been largely enabled by manufacturing while investment has moved up. These are the two significant features," he said.
Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that the Gross Domestic Product number may go up when it is finally revised.
Official data released revealed that a rise in the manufacturing sector's output pushed India's growth rate higher to 6.3 per cent during the second quarter of 2017-18 breaking a five quarters slump. On a sequential basis, GDP growth for Q2 of the current fiscal went up to 6.3 per cent, from 5.7 per cent reported during the first quarter of 2017-18.
In a statement the Finance Ministry said the real GDP growth for the second quarter of fiscal 2017-18, just released by the CSO, is estimated at 6.3 percent, a substantial increase from 5.7 percent in the first quarter.
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Real Gross Value Added growth has shown a similar increase from 5.6 percent in the first quarter to 6.1 percent in the second quarter, despite a deceleration in agricultural growth from 2.3 percent in the first quarter to 1.7 percent in the second.
The deceleration in overall growth witnessed since the first quarter of the last fiscal year has been reversed, the statement added.
"The acceleration in growth this quarter has been helped by a rapid growth in manufacturing which increased from 1.2 percent in the first quarter to 7 percent in the second quarter. Robust growth of 7.6 percent in electricity and other utilities, and 9.9 percent in trade, transportation and communications also powered this acceleration," the ministry said.
Overall, the services sector recorded a growth of 7.1 percent in the second quarter.
It stated the rate of growth of gross fixed capital formation has also increased from 1.6 percent in the first quarter to 4.7 percent in the second quarter. Real private consumption growth has broadly held steady at 6.5 percent.
"In summary, the economy now seems to have weathered the transitional challenges experienced earlier in the year and appears poised for a durable recovery going forward," it said.
