Sharma says no need for panic

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday asserted the country's growth story could not be written off as fundamentals of the economy remain strong, even as the growth rate slipped to just 4.4 per cent in the April-June quarter.     

“If any body says our economy is in a position from which it cannot recover, they are wrong,” he said while addressing the gathering of at the Chemexcil export awards in Mumbai this evening.

"From Brazil to Russia to Indonesia, there is not a single economy, whose currency has not been depreciated. But, there is no reason to panic, no need to be despondent," he said.     

This evening, the government shocked everyone with the Q1 GDP data, which showed that economy fared the worst clipping at a poor 4.4 per cent in the quarter April through June with all but one of the eight sectors registering a lower rate of expansion or contraction. GDP had expanded by 5.4 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal and at 4.8 per cent in the March quarter.