India's GDP growth dips to 3.1% in Jan-Mar 2020; 11-year-low of 4.2% in 2019-20

New Delhi: India’s economic growth slipped to 3.1 per cent in the January-March quarter of 2019-20 showing impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 5.7 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday.

In 2019-20, the Indian economy grew by 4.2 per cent against 6.1 per cent expansion in 2018-19.

The government imposed lockdown on March 25 to combat COVID-19. However, slowing down of business activities across the world in January-March impacted the Indian economy.

The Reserve Bank had pegged the GDP growth for 2019-20 at 5 per cent as projected by the NSO in its first and second advance estimates released earlier this year in January and February respectively.

China’s economy shrank by 6.8 per cent in January-March 2020 due to the impact of coronavirus infection.