New Delhi: With most sectors of the Indian economy rebounding, the SBI Ecowrap on Monday revised upwards the country’s projection of GDP growth in 2021-22 to the range of 9.3-9.6 percent and 8.1 percent in the second quarter of the current financial year.
The revision comes when 81 percent of Indian adults have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and nearly half fully vaccinated. India is yet to consider a booster dose to protect citizens from fresh pandemic waves and start inoculation of under-18 youngsters, as it prepares to resume export of vaccines whose production has multiplied.
According to SBI Research, “The reason for the upward revision is that India recorded only 11 percent increase in Covid-19 cases during Q3FY21, second-lowest among top 15 most affected countries, and the increase in cases has declined to 2.3 percent in November 2021 as compared to September 2021.
“So far, 1.15 billion vaccine doses have been administered, with 81 percent of the eligible population receiving at least a single dose and 42 percent of the eligible population both doses. In certain states including Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh over 50 percent of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated,” said the report by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, State Bank of India.
India’s projected 8.1 percent growth rate in Q2FY22, the highest growth across major economies. The average GDP growth of 28 economies decelerated to 4.5 percent in Q3FY21. Also at an annual revised rate of 9.3-9.6 percent, India’s real GDP growth would now be 1.5-1.7 percent higher than the pre-pandemic level of FY20.
The report came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last week announced to repeal all the three agriculture laws and to form a committee to decide, among others, making the system of MSP more effective and transparent.
(VP)
