Industry reels as growth nosedives to decade low
1 Jun 2013 11:59 PM GMT
Pulled down by poor performance of farm, manufacturing and mining sectors, economic growth slowed to 4.8 per cent in the January-March quarter and fell to a decade’s low of 5 per cent for the entire 2012-13 fiscal.
The economic growth or gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 5.1 per cent in January-March quarter of last fiscal. Economy had grown at 4 per cent in 2002-03, and has been above 5 per cent for the last 10 years.
India’s economic growth was at 6.2 per cent for the 2011-12 fiscal. It had grown by 5.4 per cent, 5.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent in the first, second and third quarters, respectively, of 2012-13, according to data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on Friday.
In January-March quarter of 2012-13, manufacturing sector grew marginally by 2.6 per cent, against 0.1 per cent growth in the same period of the earlier fiscal.
During 2012-13, the sector under review grew by a meagre one per cent compared to 2.7 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Mining and quarrying sector contracted by 3.1 per cent during the fourth quarter of last fiscal, as against growth of 5.2 per cent in output in the same period of 2011-12. The contraction in mining sector remained unchanged at 0.6 per cent in 2012-13 over the previous fiscal.
Farm sector output expanded by just 1.4 per cent in January-March this year, as against 2 per cent in the same quarter of 2011-12.
The agriculture sector also grew at a slower rate of just 1.9 per cent in 2012-13 compared to 3.6 per cent in 2011-12. The growth rate of electricity, gas and water supply also slowed to 2.8 per cent in the fourth quarter from 3.5 per cent witnessed in the same quarter of 2011-12. The segment grew by 4.2 per cent in 2012-13 compared to 6.5 per cent in previous fiscal.
Construction sector expanded by 4.4 per cent in Q4 of 2012-13, as against 5.1 per cent in the year-ago period. The segment grew by 4.3 per cent in 2012-13 as against 5.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Trade, hotels, transport and communications segment grew at 6.2 per cent in the January-March quarter this year as against 5.1 per cent in the same period a year ago. The sector grew at 6.4 per cent in 2012-13 compared to 7 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Growth rate of services sector, including insurance and real estate, stood at 9.1 per cent in fourth quarter against 11.3 per cent in same quarter of 2011-12. The segment grew by 8.6 per cent in 2012-13 compared to 11.7 per cent in 2011-12.
Some good news on fiscal front
Helped by higher revenue mop up, fiscal deficit for 2012-13 worked out to be at 4.89 per cent of GDP, down from revised estimate of 5.2 per cent, sources said. 'Due to good revenue receipt and higher non-tax revenue collection, fiscal deficit has come to 4.89 per cent against revised estimate of 5.2 per cent,' finance ministry sources said. The government had budgeted revenue realisation for 2012-13 fiscal at Rs 10.38 lakh crore. According to sources while there was some slippage on the direct tax front, the indirect tax mop up has exceeded the revised estimates.
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