Core sectors grow 12.1% in October

Image for representational purposes only. Mining and Manufacturing GVA which had shrunk in Q2 of last year when overall GVA grew 5.4%, recorded double-digit growth of 10% and 13.9%, respectively, between July and September, thanks to the favourable base effects.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

India’s core sectors grew 12.1% in October from a revised uptick of 9.2% in September, with all eight sectors clocking positive growth for only the third time this year and five sectors recording double-digit growth.

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 7.6% in the July to September 2023 quarter, as per initial estimates from the National Statistical Office, slightly lower than the 7.8% growth in the previous quarter but well over the central bank’s projected uptick of 6.5%.

Growth in the Gross Value Added (GVA) in the economy eased slightly to 7.4% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023-24, from 7.6% in Q1. But GVA growth in the farm sector skidded sharply to just 1.2% from 3.5% in Q1 while that from Services sectors like trade, hotels and transport more than halved to 4.3% in Q2 from 9.2%.

Mining and manufacturing GVA which had shrunk in Q2 of last year when overall GVA grew 5.4%, recorded double-digit growth of 10% and 13.9%, respectively, between July and September, thanks to the favourable base effects.

Construction GVA jumped 13.3% this Q2, while electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services added 10.1% over last year’s performance, to lift the overall economic growth numbers, even as private final consumption expenditure tanked sequentially as well as year-on-year.

The share of Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE), which indicates consumer spending, in the GDP was 56.8% in Q2, the NSO estimated, vis-a-vis 59.3% in the same quarter of 2022-23 and 57.3% in Q1 of this year.

The output growth in September was significantly lower at 8.1%.