The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the country’s economy. Due to this, gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 7.7 percent in the financial year 2020-21. The economy will decline mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing and services sector. This estimate has been revealed in the official data released on Thursday. The first advance estimate of national income, released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), states that all other sectors of the economy are expected to decline except for agriculture and utilities such as electricity and gas supply.
It said that almost all sectors of the economy are expected to decline, except for agriculture and public utility services such as electricity and gas supply.
According to the NSO, ‘Real GDP or GDP at constant price (2011-12) is estimated to be Rs 134.40 lakh crore in 2020-21. At the same time, the initial estimate of GDP in the year 2019-20 has been Rs 145.66 lakh crore. In this context, real GDP will be projected to fall by 7.7 percent in 2020-21 as compared to 4.2 percent growth in GDP last year.
Earlier, India Ratings had lowered its estimate of a decline in GDPto 7.8 per cent in the current financial year 2020-21, in view of the better-than-expected recovery in the economy in the second quarter. However, the rating agency had forecast 11.8 percent decline in the economy in the current financial year.
