New Delhi: India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 5 per cent in the April-June 2019 – the slowest pace in the six and half years, according to the latest data from the Central Statistic Office (CSO) released on Friday.
It is much lower than 8 per cent growth in the same quarter last fiscal and also lower than 5.8 per cent GDP growth in the March quarter in 2018-19.
This is the second straight quarter when the quarterly GDP growth was lower than 6 percent.
The lowest growth is being attributed to a sharp deceleration in the manufacturing sector and sluggish agriculture output.
The Reserve Bank of India on August 8 had projected the economy to grow in the range of 5.8-6.6 per cent in the first half (April-September), down from its June forecast of 6.4-6.7%.
“Real GDP growth for 2019-20 is revised downwards from 7 per cent in the June policy to 6.9 per cent – in the range of 5.8-6.6 per cent for firs half of 2019-20 and 7.3-7.5 per cent for the second half – with risks somewhat tilted to the downside,” a statement issued by the RBI said.
The RBI said that it was difficult to diagnose the reason or nature of India’s slowdown.
“The diagnosis is difficult, these conditions are hard to disentangle cleanly, at least in the formative state”, it added.