India's Q4 GDP at 5-year low of 5.8%, FY19 GDP at 6.8%

New Delhi: India's Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2018 -19 stood at 6.8 percent as against 7.2 percent in previous fiscal, while the Q4 2018-19 GDP growth stood at five-year low of 5.8 percent as against 8.1 percent a year ago, government data showed on Friday.

The lag in growth was due to poor performance in agriculture and manufacturing sectors, a Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showed.

The GDP had expanded by 7.1 percent in 2016-17 and 8.2 percent in 2015-16. The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) was slowest since 2014-15. The previous low was 6.4 percent in 2013-14. The fourth quarter growth was below China's 6.4 percent.

Real GVA, i.e, GVA at Basic Constant (2011-12) Prices for the year 2018-19 is now estimated at Rs 129.07 lakh crore showing a growth rate of 6.6 percent over First Revised Estimates of GVA for the year 2017-18 of Rs 121.04 lakh crore, released on 31st January, 2019.

Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit for 2018-19 came in at 3.39 percent of GDP, marginally lower than 3.4 percent estimated in the revised estimates of the Budget, mainly due to increase in non-tax revenue and lower expenditure.

In absolute terms, fiscal deficit at the end of March 31, 2019, stood at Rs 6.45 lakh crore as against Rs 6.34 lakh crore in the revised estimates of Budget. 

Another official data showed that the growth of eight core infrastructure sectors slowed down to 2.6 percent in April, due to negative growth in crude oil, natural gas and fertiliser output.

The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).