NEW DELHI The economic data for the financial year 2023-24 and the January-March (2024) quarter released by the government on Friday confirms the claim made by PM Narendra Modi during the current general election campaign to strengthen the foundation of the economy. India's economic growth rate during the last financial year has been 8.2 percent, which is more than the rate of seven percent recorded in the previous financial year and is also more than the estimates of all economists and economic agencies.

Today, the data for the last quarter of the last financial year (January-March, 2024) has also been released, which has revealed the economic growth rate to be 7.8 percent. This is less than the 6.2 percent recorded in the same quarter of the last financial year and the 8.6 percent recorded in the third quarter of the current financial year (October-December, 2023) but is more than the estimates of economic agencies.

Growth higher than IMF and World Bank estimates

RBI has said a day earlier that India's economy is set to achieve high growth rate for a decade. The figures released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation point in this direction. The growth rate figures are higher than the estimates of agencies like IMF, World Bank. They will have to revise their estimates for the Indian economy again.

These figures show that the size of the real gross domestic product (real GDP) has been Rs 173.82 lakh crore in the year 2022-23, while it was Rs 160.71 lakh crore. On this basis, a growth rate of 8.2 percent has been said to be achieved. Whereas the size of GDP (nominal) based on current prices has been estimated to be Rs 296.50 lakh crore and a growth rate of 9.6 percent has been achieved in it.

Nominal GDP is estimated by incorporating current prices of goods and services and issues like inflation, changes in interest rates etc. On this basis, the GDP growth rate was 14.2 percent in the year 2022-23. Generally, the real GDP growth rate is used.

Manufacturing sector became the key factor of growth

It is a good sign for the economy that the manufacturing sector has contributed the most to achieving the growth rate of 8.2 percent. Its growth rate has been 9.9 percent which was a decline of 2.2 percent in the previous financial year. Manufacturing creates more employment opportunities. The mining sector has also made a big contribution of 7.1 percent.

There has also been a growth of 9.9 percent in construction. During this period, the growth rate of the agriculture sector has come down from 4.7 percent to 1.4 percent. Which can be a matter of concern for the government. The growth rate of all service sectors has also decreased compared to the year 2022-23.

According to the data of economic growth rate given by the government during the last ten years, except for the financial year 2019-20 (3.9 percent) and the year 2020-21 (5.8 percent decline in the Corona year), the growth rate in other years has been 6.5 percent or more. In 2020-21, the growth rate was 9.7 percent and in the next two years it was 7 and 8.2 percent. India has become the country achieving the fastest economic growth among the major economies of the world for two consecutive years.

Looking at the estimates of domestic and foreign agencies, this will continue in the year 2024-25 as well. The pace of growth has slowed down in the fourth quarter (January-March, 2024). RBI estimates that the economic growth rate in the current quarter (April-June, 2024) will be 7.1 percent.