State of Indian Economy

State of the Economy and Prospects
The fiscal year 2009-10 began as a difficult one. There was a significant slowdown
in the growth rate in the second half of 2008-09, following the financial crisis that began in the industrialized nations in 2007 and spread to the real economy across the world. The growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008-09 was 6.7 per cent, with growth in the last two quarters hovering around 6 per cent. There was apprehension that this trend would persist for some time, as the full impact of the economic slowdown in the developed world worked through the system. It was also a year of reckoning for the policymakers, who had taken a calculated risk in providing substantial fiscal expansion to counter the negative fallout of the global slowdown. Inevitably, India’s fiscal deficit increased from the end of 2007-08, reaching 6.8 per cent (budget estimate, BE) of GDP in 2009-10. A delayed and severely subnormal monsoon added to the overall uncertainty. The continued recession in the developed world, for the better part of 2009-10, meant a sluggish export recovery and a slowdown in financial flows into the economy. Yet, over the span of the year, the economy posted a remarkable recovery, not only in terms of overall growth figures but, more importantly, in terms of certain fundamentals, which justify optimism for the Indian economy in the medium to long term.

CHAPTER

1

1.2 The real turnaround came in the second quarter of 2009-10 when the economy grew by 7.9 per cent. As per the advance estimates of GDP for 2009-10, released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the economy is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2009-10, with the industrial and the service sectors growing at 8.2 and 8.7 per cent respectively. This recovery is impressive for at least three reasons. First, it has come about despite a decline of 0.2 per cent in agricultural output, which was the consequence of sub-normal monsoons. Second, it foreshadows... [continues]

Read full essay