The second advance estimate was keenly awaited as the first advance estimate, released in January, did not capture the impact of the government’s currency swap initiative on economic activity. Also, the CSO has not changed its full year gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate of 7.1% for the current year despite an upward revision in last year’s growth. There could be several reasons why GDP growth has surprised on the upside. Overall, at a broader level, in the absence of revival in investment demand, economic growth continues to remain dependent on consumption expenditure. Analysts are, naturally, busy interpreting the data and are waiting for more clarity to emerge in order to gauge the exact impact of the currency swap.

Source: Mint March 02, 2017 18:35 UTC