Fastest growing economy? India to grow at 7.5% in FY20, says World Bank

Current Affairs

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares her budget, the World Bank reports Indias economy grew by 7.2 per cent in 2018-19 in contrast to the recent Indian Central Statistical Office (CSO) estimate of only 6.8 per cent growth during the period.
The Bank's Economic Prospects Report released on Tuesday forecast India's economy to grow by 7.5 per cent during this and the next two fiscal years, retaining its top spot as the fastest growing major economy. It would be helped by a "more accommodative monetary policy" and low inflation, it said.
The report retained the forecasts it made in January for India.
India's growth forecast is the brightest spot in a grim forecast for the world economy. The report said that the global growth rate was estimated at 3 per cent last year and is forecast to dip steeply to 2.6 per cent this year, before edging up to 2.7 per cent next year and 2.8 per cent in 2021.
India "is estimated to have grown 7.2 per cent in fiscal year 2018-19, which ended March 31", the report said. "A slowdown in government consumption was offset by solid investment, which benefited from public infrastructure spending".
The Bank said that the cut-off dates for data used in the report was May 23.
On May 31, the CSO said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the 2018-19 fiscal stood at 6.8 per cent, lower than the previous year's 7.2 per cent.The CSO said the Indian economy grew by only 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter. That dragged down the fiscal year's growth rate.

 Finance Secretary Subash Garg attributed the slowdown to "temporary factors like stress in non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector affecting consumption finance".