India's 2020-21 Q1 GDP growth contracts by 23.9%

New Delhi: India's Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for April-June 2020 slowed down to 23.9 percent, government data showed on Monday.

The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation releasing the estimates of GDP for the first quarter (April-June) Q1 of 2020-21, both at Constant (2011-12) and Current Prices said, "GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 26.90 lakh crore, as against Rs 35.35 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20, showing a contraction of 23.9 percent as compared to 5.2 percent growth in Q1 2019-20.  Quarterly GVA at Basic Price at Constant (2011-12) Prices for Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 25.53 lakh crore, as against Rs 33.08 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20, showing a contraction of 22.8 percent".

"With a view to contain spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, restrictions were imposed on the economic activities not deemed essential, as also on the movement of people from 25 March, 2020. Though the restrictions have been gradually lifted, there has been an impact on the economic activities as well as on the data collection mechanisms. The timelines for filing statutory returns were also extended by most regulatory bodies. In these circumstances, the usual data sources were substituted by alternatives like GST, interactions with professional bodies etc. and which were clearly limited," the official release said.   

It added that estimates are likely to undergo revisions for the aforesaid causes in due course, as data challenges in the case of other underlying macro-economic indicators like IIP and CPI, used in the estimation of National Accounts aggregates, will also have implications on these estimates.