Economic Survey Upshot: Govt revises growth rate for 2019-20 downwards to 4 per cent

The government on Friday revised downwards the economic growth rate for 2019-20 to 4 per cent from 4.2 per cent estimated earlier. “Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for the years 2019-20 and 2018-19 stands at Rs 145.69 lakh crore and Rs 140.03 lakh crore, respectively, showing a growth of 4.0 per cent during 2019-20 and 6.5 per cent during 2018-19,” National Statistical Office said in revised national account data released on Friday.

The revision comes on a day when the Economic Survey 2021 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman which predicted that India’s economy is likely to rebound with an 11 per cent growth in the next financial year as it makes a ‘V-shaped’ recovery after witnessing a pandemic-led carnage. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract by a record 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31, 2021, it said.

India witnessed its last annual contraction of 5.2 per cent in fiscal year 1979-80. The Economic Survey 2020-21 said the agriculture sector is the only silver lining while services, manufacturing and construction were most hit by the lockdown that was imposed to curb the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

India is expected to witness current account surplus during the current financial year after a gap of 17 years, it said.