India to regain growth momentum in Q3: Goyal

NEW DELHI: India's economy will regain its higher growth momentum in the third quarter and achieve the estimated growth rate to remain the world's fastest growing economy in 2024-25, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

Asked whether the Q2 GDP numbers worried him at the India Economic Conclave organised by the Times Network, the minister said: "Well, I think, governments don't run 'quarter to quarter' [from one quarter to another]," and added that the blip was due to the "lag effect" of elections in the first quarter, which is now passé. He said during the election, policy making and implementation of projects slowed and there was a lag effect. But, "the initial numbers for this quarter, the 3rd quarter show a pick-up," he added.

The official data released on November 29 showed GDP growth rate slowing down to a seven-quarter low at 5.4% in Q2 of FY25.

While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 6 accepted that the real GDP in Q2 was "much lower than anticipated," it cited high-frequency indicators to conclude that the slowdown in domestic economic activities had already bottomed out "aided by strong festive demand and a pick-up in rural activities".

The RBI on December 6 projected the real GDP growth for financial year 2024-25 at 6.6%, with 6.8% in the third quarter and 7.2% in the fourth quarter.