India’s economy expands 8.7% in FY22; Q4 GDP at 4.1%

NEW DELHI: India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the January-March 2022 quarter came in at 4.1 per cent, data released by the government showed on Tuesday.
Real GDP at constant prices (2011-12) in FY22 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 147.36 lakh crore, as against the first revised estimate of Rs 135.58 lakh crore for FY21, the official release said.
In the previous quarter, GDP growth stood at 5.4 per cent, while that for Q1 was 20.1 per cent. The government revised GDP data for Q2 from 8.5 per cent to 8.4 per cent.

For the full financial year 2021-22, India’s economy expanded by 8.7 per cent.
The improvement in the economy comes over a GDP contraction of 6.6 per cent during 2020-21 due to the pandemic and resultant lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Quick Edit: GDP’s components show private consumption is weak and in need of fiscal support
India went into nationwide lockdown from March 25, 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which severely dented the economic growth in the 2020-21 fiscal.
The economy had contracted by 6.6 per cent in 2020-21 — first time in last 40 years — after witnessing its first technical recession following 2 successive quarters of negative growth.
The second revised estimates of GDP, released by the Centre in February had projected India’s economy to grow by 8.9 per cent in FY22.

The Economic Survey tabled in Parliament in February had estimated the GDP growth for the current fiscal (2022-23) in the range of 8 – 8.5 per cent.
Gross value added (GVA) growth during the fiscal ending March 2022 was at 8.1 per cent as against a contraction 4.8 per cent in the preceding year.
As per the NSO data, per capita income (based on net national income) during 2021-22 was Rs 1.5 lakh per annum at current prices, up from 1,26,855 in 2020-21, showing a growth of 18.3 per cent.
However, at constant prices, per capita annual income works out to be Rs 91,481, up 7.5 per cent from Rs 85,110 in FY21.
Gross fixed capital formation was estimated at Rs 47.84 lakh crore in 2021-22, up from Rs 41.31 lakh crore in the preceding year.
Quarterly growth slows
The economy’s near-term prospects have been darkened by a spike in retail inflation, which hit an eight-year high of 7.8 per cent in April.
The surge in energy and commodity prices following the Ukraine crisis is also exerting a drag on economic activity.
Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the benchmark repo rate by 40 basis points in an unscheduled meeting early this month.
Besides, surge in Omicron cases in December and January had made people cautious as partial restrictions returned in some states.
“Global spill overs of supply shortages, crude oil shock and higher input costs thwarted India’s growth momentum in Q4. The impact of these factors was widely witnessed in high frequency mining, manufacturing, and construction indicators,” Vivek Rathi, director – research at Knight Frank India said.
Manufacturing output contracted 0.2 per cent year-on-year in the three months ending in March, compared with expansion of 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter, the data showed.
India’s Q4 growth was slower than that of China’s as it registered an economic growth of 4.8 per cent in the first three months of 2022. However, it was slower than that of US which expanded at 3.6 per cent.

Sector-wise performance
Agriculture sector — which was the only silver lining in FY21 — slowed to 3 per cent in FY22 as against 3.3 per cent last year.
Apart from this, all other sectors experienced robust economic growth in the current fiscal year.
Mining and quarrying sector grew by 11.5 per cent in FY22 as compared to a contraction of 8.6 per cent in FY21.
Similarly, manufacturing grew at a good pace of 9.9 per cent as against -0.6 per cent last year.

Electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services segment grew by 7.5 per cent during 2021-22. The segment had contracted by 3.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
GVA growth in services sector — trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting — was 11.1 per cent during 2021-22 as against a contraction of 20.2 per cent in the previous year.
Financial, real estate and professional services grew by 4.2 per cent in the year over 2.2 per cent earlier.
Public administration, defence and other services posted 12.6 per cent growth against (-)5.5 per cent in 2020-21.