India’s GDP growth shocker: Bad news can be good too
Live MintIndia’s growth in gross domestic product of 5.4% in the three months ended 30 September, or the second quarter of 2024-25, was a shocker. It’s the lowest level seen since the third quarter of 2022-23 and a sharp drop from 8.1% growth in the same period last year and also from 6.7% in the first quarter of 2024-25. Given the budget’s 10.5% nominal growth assumption for 2024-25, any undershoot could also hurt India’s fiscal accounts. Agriculture growth was Government capital expenditure spending contracted about 15% year-on-year in the first half of 2024-25, while revenue expenditure grew 8.6%, leading to overall expenditure growth of a mere 3.3%. Overall investment growth also moderated, as government capital expenditure spending tracked lower compared to last year.