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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Jan 08, 2018, 08:05 AM IST
The Indian economy seems to be heading towards troubled waters.For some time now, economists and market experts have been decrying that the Indian economy is caught in a slowdown vortex, aptly evident from the low-capacity utilisation, the wan levels of bank credit growth and the unserviceable leveraging of Indian corporates.Now, official advanced estimates from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) just confirmed the worst fears of the BJP government: The Indian economy, per the CSO estimates, is poised to grow at an arrested pace of 6.5 per cent in FY18 vis-à-vis 7.1 per cent in FY17. Coming in the run-up to elections in eight states in 2018, this news should rightly send danger bells ringing in the highest echelons of the government.
That the disillusionment has set in can be seen from the results of the Gujarat assembly elections. Meanwhile, the Congress is slowly but steadily regaining lost ground and rural-farmer distress will be its major poll plank in the coming year. CSO’s statistics must give food for thought to Finance Minister Jaitley, whose leadership has been excoriated not only by the Opposition but by estranged seniors from within the BJP as well.
The CSO has predicted that the growth in agriculture, forestry and mining is likely to slow down to 2.1 per cent this FY compared to the 4.9 per cent growth last FY. Manufacturing is doing no better; its growth is expected to head southward to 4.6 per cent from 7.9 per cent. Along with this, the per capita income growth is also likely to slow down to 8.3 per cent from 9.7 per cent in this FY. Another tedious task on the government’s agenda is managing the demand for loan waivers from states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattishgarh. The going will not be easy.
