India retains fastest growing tag, 7.4 pc growth projected

India will remain the fastest growing major economy in the world during the financial year ending March 2026, with its economy projected to grow 7.4 per cent, according to the first advance estimates released Wednesday by the National Statistics Office.

- JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY

Nominal GDP is estimated to grow at 8.0 per cent in FY 2025-26, it said.

This fast-paced growth is expected to give the government headroom to splurge more on infrastructure and undertake larger-than-before modernisation of its defence forces in an uncertain world, according to top finance ministry officials.

The forecast, released today, exceeds last year's growth of 6.5 per cent and is above earlier projections for fiscal 2025-26 that ranged between 6.5 per cent and 6.8 per cent.

The estimates, published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, are preliminary and will be revised as additional data become available.

Top North Bloc officials told UNI "the GST cuts announced late last year will expand consumption-led growth and we can look at a larger budget, more spending on infrastructure."

Policy announcements in several key sectors ranging from "chip making, rare earths and nuclear plants will also give a push to both budgetary outlays as well as the real economy," they said.