SBI pegs FY25 growth at 6.3%; lower than govt estimate
New Indian ExpressThe economy is expected to close the current fiscal with 6.3 percent growth, 10 bps lower than the government's advance estimate of 6.4 percent, and 30 bps lower than the RBI’s revised forecast, owing to many factors like weak demand and poor investments, stated a State Bank of India report on Wednesday. The SBI report was released a day after the National Statistics Office published its first advance estimates for 2024-25, which projected the economy to decelerate to a four-year low of 6.4 percent this fiscal year, primarily due to weak performance in manufacturing and subdued investments. "But we believe that GDP growth for FY25 could be around 6.3 percent, with more downward bias," said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser to SBI. But the worrying aspects are of slowing demand, a marked slowdown in gross capital formation, Ghosh said, adding nominal growth in capital formation has declined by 270 bps to 7.2 percent.