Ind-Ra raises GDP growth forecast to 7.4%

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has scaled up its projections for economic growth to 7.4 per cent, from the earlier 7.1 per cent, for 2018-19 on expectations of strong agricultural and industrial growth.

This is somewhat different from IHS Markit, a compiler of the purchasing managers’ index, which had recently lowered its FY19 growth projection to 7.3 per cent, from 7.4 per cent earlier, on account of weak demand. Earlier, the International Monetary Fund had projected India’s economy to grow at 7.4 per cent in FY19, while the World Bank expects the economy to grow at 7.3 per cent in FY19. The Economic Survey had pegged economic growth at 7-7.5 per cent for the year. The second Advance Estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) had pegged FY18 growth at 6.6 per cent, down from 7.1 per cent in the previous financial year. The Union Budget for 2018-19 had projected nominal gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 11.5 per cent. By comparison, Ind-Ra expects nominal GDP to grow at 10.9 per cent. Ind-Ra has upped its forecast for gross value added (GVA) by agriculture to 3 per cent in FY19, up from its earlier forecast of 2.7 per cent, on account of a good monsoon. Private weather forecasting agency Skymet has predicted that southwest monsoon is likely to be normal at 100 per cent of the long-term average.

From June to September, the longterm average is around 887 millimetres. In the second Advance Estimates, the CSO had pegged agricultural growth at 3 per cent in FY18, down from 6.3 per cent in FY17. Ind-Ra expects GVA by industry to grow at 7 per cent in FY19, up from 4.8 per cent in FY18, while the services sector is expected to grow at 8.6 per cent in FY19, up from 8.3 per cent in the previous year.

It expects the current account deficit at 2.1 per cent of GDP in FY19, up from 1.6 per cent in FY18.