Releasing the data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Chief Statistician T C A Anant said, "It is difficult to talk about the impact of demonetisation at this point of time ... At this point the drop (in GDP estimates) is not attributable to any policy change (demonetisation)."
Economists and experts have been repeatedly talking about the adverse impact of note ban, effected on November 9, on GDP in near term including in the current fiscal.
He explained that the CSO has factored in all latest data available so far while arriving at a conclusion the economic growth will be 7.1 per cent this fiscal.
He also said that CSO does not make adhoc estimates and current figures are based on indicators available as of now.
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Several economists have predicted that growth will slow down in the near term as economic activity has taken a hit on account of note ban. Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has projected economic growth to plunge by 2 percentage points.
Das said: "Today whatever figures, whatever statistics are coming about the impact of demonetisation are broadly, mostly anecdotal and mostly based on anecdotal evidence".
"The economic survey and the budget will spell our what approach the government will take, so I would not like to pre-judge and I cannot comment on that, but as I mentioned earlier," he said, adding tax revenues will exceed budget estimates this fiscal.
Given the current scenario, India Inc is pinning its
hopes on a growth-oriented Budget to unleash investments and set the pace for economic growth of 8 per cent and above in the near future.
Commenting on data, industry body CII said, "No doubt, the demonetisation drive is anticipated to result in a downward bias to GDP growth in the next one or two quarters, but this is likely to be a blip in the growth momentum as demand has only been deferred and will re-emerge once the situation becomes normal."
CII said that it looks forward to a growth-oriented Budget which would unleash a new wave of investments and set the pace for economic growth of 8 per cent and above in near future.
"The growth in GDP during 2016-17 is estimated at 7.1 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 7.6 per cent in 2015- 16," the CSO said.
The CSO projections on national income are now in line with the Reserve Bank's estimates, which too has lowered the GDP growth prospects to 7.1 per cent.
In value terms, the Gross Value Added (GVA) at constant prices is anticipated to increase from Rs 104.27 lakh crore in 2015-16 to Rs 111.53 lakh crore in 2016-17.
'Agriculture, forestry and fishing' is expected to expand by 4.1 per cent in 2016-17 against 1.2 per cent growth in previous fiscal.
On the other hand, mining and quarrying is likely to shrink by 1.8 per cent after recording a growth rate of 7.4 per cent in 2015-16.
As per the data, the per capita net national income (current prices) during 2016-17 is estimated to be Rs 1,03,007 showing a rise of 10.4 per cent as compared to Rs 93,293 during 2015-16.