Tue 01 September 2020:
From lockdown period, South Asian economic powerhouse only sees positive growth in agricultural sector with 3.4%
NEW DELHI – India’s economy contracted by nearly a quarter from April to June, when the country went into complete lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to official figures released Monday.
According to the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank a record 23.9% in comparison to last year.
The ministry’s National Statistical Office released the data for the first quarter, which starts on April 1 and ends on June 30, of the 2020-21 fiscal year.
India’s construction sector contracted 50.3% from last year, while the manufacturing sector registered a fall of 39.3% from growth of 3% last year. The trade, hotel, and transport sector shrank 47%, according to the data.
Agriculture is the only sector that saw growth – 3.4% — in the first quarter from 3% last year, said the data, with the government noting in a statement that it had introduced restrictions on “economic activities not deemed essential” and movement to contain the pandemic as of March 25, 2020.
“Though the restrictions have been gradually lifted, there has been an impact on the economic activities as well as on the data collection mechanisms. The timelines for filing statutory returns were also extended by most regulatory bodies.”
Ignore the signs
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and P Chidambaram hit out at the government on Monday over the contraction of India’s GDP – by 23.9 per cent in the April-June period – accusing it of ignoring repeated warnings from experts on the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic had affected the economy.
Mr Gandhi, who this morning tweeted a video saying the government was destroying the economy by attacking the informal sector, said it was “unfortunate” it had chosen to ignore the signs.
The former Finance Minister Mr Chidambaram then said the government “will not acknowledge its mistakes”, and that “inaction and ineptitude… gives us no hope we will see light at the end of the tunnel any time soon”.
