Strong manufacturing enables India’s economy to expand by 6.3 per cent

Indian Economy expanded by 6.3 per cent for the three months to September 2017, on the back of a strong manufacturing performance, reversing over a year of declining growth following demonetisation.

The data showed a sharp leap from previous quarter from the 1.2 per cent growth. TC Anant chief statistician  said: “After five quarters of declining GDP growth, we see a revival, in the wake of this quarter’s reversal  which is very encouraging.”

The growth figures also suggest the economy has shrugged off the disruption caused by the introduction of a new national goods and services tax (GST), which has annoyed several traders.

 

Economists were predicting that the government may miss hitting its target of 7 per cent growth both this and next year.

Tushar Arora, HDFC Bank’s senior economist said: “ As the revival continues, we are likely to keep the annual (GDP) forecast unchanged at 6.5 per cent.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation actually fell to 3.39 per cent in October 2017 against 3.57 per cent in the previous month.  Tushar Arora said: “ WPI numbers are lower than expected and has gone below last month’s reading as well.”

He suggested there may be a revision in the Consumer Price Index number or a downside in the light of lower WPI.