Indian economy grows by 4.1% for the March Quarter; 8.7% for the full financial year
In the final quarter of the latest financial year, the Indian government had a very slow growth at 4.1%. this ended up bringing the year’s total growth down to 8.7% which was just below the government’s projected 8.9%.
The final quarter experienced the Russian invasion of Ukraine which ended up breaking global supply chains which mainly caused the price of fuel to consistently rise which made it difficult for businesses and economies to conduct usual business and grow.
Stagflation has been ruled out
V Anantha Nageswaran who is the chief economic advisor has said that the possibility of stagflation taking place in the country is very minimal and will not happen especially compared to other economies around the world. Stagflation refers to a situation where the inflation of the economy is high but the rate of growth is very low. An economy undergoing stagflation is one under stress as it generally comes with rising prices and heavy unemployment.
In a quarter where economic growth was slow with unemployment slowly creeping up, many people were concerned about the possibility of stagflation taking place, but it looks like we have nothing to be worried about.
Fiscal deficit hits 6.7%
The government expected the fiscal deficit to be at 6.9% at the end of the financial year, but a 6.7% deficit is much better than expected. This mainly due to the fact that the union government was able to increase their revenue collection in the final quarter and couple with the fact that India bought millions of barrels of oil directly from the Russia government, the deficit was able to stay stagnant instead of skyrocketing.
Electric scooter sales stagnate after an initial boom
After an initial boom, it seems like the fad faded away in May as sales has dropped by a fourth. Over 43,000 electric vehicles were purchased in the month of April, but that number dropped down to less than 33,000 in just a month according to the transport ministry.
Perhaps the hype for it has died down and this is the new normal for the EV industry. But it also could be due to the subpar quality and many of them catching fire.
India considers importing coal
The Indian government has opened to talks with various coal importing countries like Australia and Russia to import them at a cheaper rate.
This might be due to the fact that India would have some resources to fall back on if we ever encounter a shortage.