Indian economy grows 8.4% in Q3FY24; full-year estimate up to 7.6%

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Indian economy recorded a faster-than-anticipated expansion of 8.4% in the third quarter of the year compared with 8.1% in the second and 8.2% in the first quarter, according to official data released Thursday.

The jump in growth numbers pushed FY24 growth to 7.6%, up from 7.3% estimated in January.

“Overall, the Indian economy ticks all the boxes in the right way,” said chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.

Investment and manufacturing contributed to Q3FY24 growth, but experts indicate that a downward revision to the previous year’s numbers and a boost in net taxes also played a role in growth hitting the highest level in one and a half years.

ET poll had projected 6.6% growth in the third quarter, with forecasts ranging 6-7.2%.

“The third quarter GDP growth at 8.4% is much higher than market expectations. Interestingly the GVA growth at 6.5% for Q3 is broadly in line with expectations. This very wide gap in GDP and GVA growth numbers can be mainly attributed to the strong growth in net taxes,” said Rajani Sinha, chief economist, CareEdge.

The FY23 number was revised downwards to 7% from 7.2% projected earlier, whereas the FY22 number was revised upwards to 10.1% as per the final estimates, given the 7.4% contraction during the Covid year.

“Besides, this downward revision, the other factor that seems to have contributed to the 3QFY24 GDP growth is non-pass through of lower input cost by the industrial sector as despite modest volume growth much higher value-added growth has been recorded in the