India’s economy could contract 7.7% in the financial year that ends on March 31, pulled down mainly by the coronavirus pandemic and the weeks-long nationwide lockdown to contain the disease, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian has estimated in the Economic Survey 2020-21, tabled in Parliament on Friday. Real GDP growth could be 11 % in the next financial year, the survey said.
The Economic Survey 2020-21’s estimate is broadly in line with the forecasts by the central bank, most international agencies and private experts. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in December said it expected the country’s GDP to contract 7.5% in the year ending March 31, 2021, in an upward revision from its earlier forecast of a 9.5% contraction.
