India's GDP growth rate; 6.2 percent growth in third quarter; Agricultural services sectors surge

The Union Statistics Ministry has said that India's gross domestic product grew by 6.2 percent in the third quarter (October-December) of the current financial year (2024-25). In the last quarter, India's GDP value was Rs 47.17 lakh crore. It grew by 6.2 percent compared to Rs 44.44 lakh crore in the same quarter of the financial year 2023-24.

The growth rate in the second quarter of the financial year 2024-25 was 5.4 percent. This was the worst rate in seven quarters. The financial crisis faced by middle-class households and consumer spending in cities led to a rebound in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the new report has revised the second quarter growth rate to 5.6 percent.

A good monsoon, improved rural consumption and an increase in government project expenditure are the main factors that influenced the growth in the last quarter (October-December).

The data shows that most of the growth in the third quarter came from the agriculture and services sectors. Agriculture growth reached a six-quarter high of 5.6 percent, up from 4.1 percent in the previous quarter. The services sector grew at a faster pace of 7.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector fell to 3.5 percent from 14 percent

Despite an increase in private and government consumption, capital formation remained at 5.7 percent, compared to 5.8 percent in the previous quarter. The growth in the mining sector fell from 4.7 to 1.4 percent and the construction sector from 10 to 7 percent

The growth rate of the electricity, gas, water supply and other utilities sector fell from 10.1 percent to 5 percent. The growth rate of the sector, which includes trade, hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting, fell from eight to 6.7 percent, and the growth rate of the finance, real estate and professional services sector fell from 8.4 to 7.2 percent.

The growth rate in the last financial year (2023-24) was 8.6 percent in December. The growth rate since the first quarter of 2022-23 has been revised. Accordingly, the growth rate in the December 2023-24 quarter is 9.5 percent. The Center expects a combined GDP growth rate of 6.5 percent for the current financial year (2024-25).

India maintained its position as the world's fastest-growing large economy in the last quarter. China recorded a growth of 5.4%, the US 2.3%, the UK 0.1% and Japan 2.8%.