India's GDP grows by 5.4 per cent in December quarter

Indian economy grew by 5.4 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2021-22, official data released on Monday showed. The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 0.7 per cent in the corresponding period of 2020-21, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).  In its second advance estimates of national accounts, the NSO has projected 8.9 per cent growth in 2021-22. In its first advance estimates released in January, it had projected 9.2 per cent growth for 2021-22 as against a contraction of 6.6 per cent in 2020-21.The economy had grown by 20.3 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal due to lower base effect. In the second quarter, the GDP grew by 8.5 per cent.

The construction sector witnessed a sharp dip in growth and went into negative territory, clocking -2.8 per cent in the third quarter of current financial year. In the second quarter of current fiscal, it had registered a growth of 8.2 per cent. In the first quarter of the current fiscal, the economic growth had been a stupendous 20.1 per cent, which however was mainly due to the low base effect. However this is the fifth consecutive quarter when there has been a positive growth in GDP. The economy had grown by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2020-21, 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020-21, 20.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2021-22 and 8.4 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.