look news india
New Delhi: A day before the seventh phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections in the country, there is good news on the economy front. Official data said on Friday that GDP growth fell marginally to 7.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY 2023-24 due to progress in the manufacturing sector, while the annual GDP growth rate for FY 2023-24 was 8.2 per cent. Sources said that with this growth, the Indian economy has become a US $ 3.5 trillion economy and has moved towards the target of becoming a US $ 5 trillion economy in the next few years.
GDP growth figures have been released even before the results of the Lok Sabha elections in the country on June 4. GDP growth in the fourth quarter of January-March of the financial year 2023-24 was 7.8 percent, which is much higher than 6.2 percent in the same quarter last year. But compared to the growth of 8.6 percent in the October-December quarter, it saw a slight decline of 0.8 percent.
Similarly, the growth rate was 8.1 percent in July-September 2023. Apart from this, the annual GDP growth rate for the financial year 2023-24 is estimated to be 8.2 percent. On the economic front, the economic growth rate of India's main rival China was 5.3 percent in the January-March quarter.
According to government data, the country's GDP growth rate was 8.2 percent in the financial year 2023-24, which remained at 7.0 percent in 2022-23. In this way, there is a jump of 1.2 percent in the GDP growth rate this year. According to data released on Friday by the National Statistical Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, the RBI had estimated India's GDP growth to be more than 6.9 percent in the quarter ending March 31, 2024.
The ministry said that gross value added (GVA) growth excluding indirect taxes and subsidies was better than expected. GAV grew by 6.3 percent during the fourth quarter. This figure was 6.8 percent in the previous quarter. Bloomberg economists had expected GAV to grow by 6.2 percent in the January-March quarter. These figures indicate a strong economic scenario before the elections.
Nominal GDP is estimated to reach Rs. 295.36 lakh crore in 2023-24 as against Rs. 269.50 lakh crore in 2022-23, showing a growth rate of 9.6 percent. Real GDP in the March quarter of 2023-24 was Rs. 47.24 lakh crore as against Rs. 43.84 lakh crore. Similarly, nominal GDP in the March quarter of 2023-24 is estimated to be Rs. 78.28 lakh crore as against Rs. 71.23 lakh crore, showing a growth rate of 9.9 percent.
The government's fiscal deficit in the financial year 2023-24 was 5.63 per cent of GDP. This is slightly lower than the Union Budget estimate of 5.8 per cent. The actual fiscal deficit stood at Rs. 16.53 lakh crore. In the interim budget presented by the government in February 2024, the revised estimate for 2023-24 estimated a fiscal deficit of Rs. 17.34 lakh crore i.e. 5.8 per cent of GDP. Net direct tax collection in 2023-24 is Rs. 23.36 lakh crore while the expenditure is Rs. 44.42 lakh crore.
