Economic growth slows to 5.4% in Dec qtr; manufacturing, construction hit

Full-year forecast revised lower to 8.9%

The Indian economy grew at 5.4 per cent in the third quarter of FY22, according to the National Statistical Office’s (NSO’s) second advance estimates of GDP for 2021-22, released on Monday.

This is below the expectations of most economists. The statistics office pared the overall growth forecast for FY22 to 8.9 per cent from 9.2 per cent estimated in January.

However, experts say the adverse impact of the third wave of the pandemic on contact-intensive services sectors in the fourth quarter and the spike in commodity prices owing to Russia-Ukraine war may put further downward pressure on GDP growth in FY22.

The data