The Central government on Monday, 31 May declared the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the financial year 2020-21 at -7.3% as compared to 4.0% in 2019-20.
According to the data released by the Centre, India’s GDP for the fourth quarter (January to March) grew by 1.6%.
Data released in February had revealed that the Indian economy grew by 0.4 percent in October-December 2020, the third quarter of FY 2020-21. Prior to this, with two straight quarters of GDP contraction, India had fallen into a technical recession – the first since India began releasing quarterly estimates of GDP in FY98.
The announcement from the Centre comes as it tries to revive an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid a nationwide lockdown in 2020, the first quarter (April-June) had seen a contraction of 24.4% while the second quarter (July-September) saw a contraction of 8%.
‘Momentum of Growth Affected by Second Wave’: CEA
Commenting on the figures, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian said that the growth was affected by the second wave of the pandemic.
“The momentum of GDP growth has been affected by the second wave. Indian economy grew 1.6% in Quarter 4 of the Financial year 2020-21. Full-year GDP contraction stands at 7.3%,” he said, as quoted by ANI.
“Foodgrains production is expected to be at record levels in this year and coming year given the normal monsoon that has been predicted by the IMD. This is reflected both in cereals (rice and wheat) and pulses. The demand in rural India has been resilient, he added.
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