The growth in country’s real GDP (Gross Domestic Products) during 2020-21 is estimated at minus 8 per cent as compared to the positive growth rate of 4 per cent in 2019-20, said government on Friday as part of its second advance estimates of the economic growth.
The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the Second Advance Estimates of National Income, 2020-21 on Friday as well as Quarterly Estimates of GDP for the quarter October-December (Q3), 2020-21 along with the corresponding quarterly estimates of expenditure components of GDP both at Constant (2011-12) and Current Prices.
Real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2020-21 is estimated to attain a level of ₹ 134.09 lakh crore, as against the First Revised Estimate of GDP for the year 2019-20 of ₹ 145.69 lakh crore, released on 29th January 2021.
GDP at Current Prices in the year 2020-21 is estimated to attain a level of ₹ 195.86 lakh crore, as against ₹ 203.51 lakh crore in 2019-20, showing a drop of -3.8 percent.
The Per Capita Income in real terms (at 2011-12 Prices) during 2020-21 is estimated to attain a level of ₹ 85,929 as compared to ₹ 94,566 in the year 2019-20, showing a negative growth of -9.1 percent during 2019-20, as against 2.5 per cent in the previous year.
Meanwhile, adding a dash of positive hope, NSO stated that GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q3 of 2020-21 is estimated to have gone up by 0.4 per cent, to ₹ 36.22 lakh crore, as against ₹ 36.08 lakh crore in Q3 of 2019-20.
“The measures taken by the Government to contain spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have had an impact on the economic activities as well as on the data collection mechanisms. Estimates are, therefore, likely to undergo sharp revisions for the aforesaid causes in due course, as per the release calendar. Users should take this into consideration when interpreting the figures”, NSO release said.
As per the NSO estimates, agriculture sector is likely to see a growth of 3 per cent in 2020-21. However, it will be lower than 4.3 per cent growth recorded in 2019-20. As per the second advance estimates released, manufacturing sector is estimated to contract 8.4 per cent during FY21, while electricity is likely to grow at 1.8 per cent.
Among services sectors, trade, hotel, transport sectors are projected to contract 18 per cent. The output of eight core infrastructure sectors grew marginally by 0.1 per cent in January, mainly due to growth in the production of fertiliser, steel and electricity. The core sectors had expanded by 2.2 per cent in January 2020, according to NSO release.
