Riding on agriculture, manufacturing sectors, India to grow at 7.2% in 2018-19: CSO

A robust performance of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors will drive India’s economic growth at 7.2 per cent in 2018-19, the Central Statistics Office said on Monday. This is higher than the 6.7 per cent growth witnessed in the previous fiscal, which slumped due to twin effects of demonetisation and introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The growth in GDP during 2018-19 is estimated at 7.2 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 6.7 per cent in 2017-18. Real GVA (Gross Value Added) is anticipated to grow at 7 per cent in the current fiscal as against 6.5 per cent in 2017-18, the CSO said while releasing the first advance estimates of National Income for 2018-19.

India’s annual economic growth surged to a more than two-year high of 8.2 per cent in the three months through June, powered by a sharp jump in growth in manufacturing, agriculture, construction sectors.

According to the CSO data, the expansion in activities in ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ is likely to increase to 3.8 per cent in the current fiscal from 3.4 per cent in the preceding year.