India's gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22 grew at 8.4 percent, official data released on November 30 showed.

The numbers mark a significant increase as compared to the COVID-19-hit second quarter of last fiscal year, when the GDP had declined by 7.4 percent.

In the previous quarter of FY22, the Indian economy had grown at a record pace of 20.1 percent.

The gross value added (GVA) in Q2 has grown by 8.5 percent, as compared to a negative growth of (-)7.3 percent in the same quarter last year.

The GVA had, notably, grown by 18.8 percent in the last quarter, whereas, private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) had rose sharply by 19.35 percent.

The GDP numbers for the second quarter were in-line with the most projections by leading brokerages and financial institutions.

For instance, India Ratings had projected the economy to grow 8.3 percent in Q2 and close the year with 9.4 percent in FY'22. The agency had attributed the higher growth to the nine consecutive quarters of over 3 percent agriculture growth, which had brightened consumer spending.

"However, the resultant uptick in private final consumption expenditure, which is likely to clip at around 10 percent in the September quarter of the current fiscal," it had said.

According to a report prepared by the economists at private lender HDFC Bank, the country's September 2021 quarter growth was estimated at 7.3 percent when looked at from a GVA basis. The gap between GDP and GVA is likely to be driven by higher tax revenue collection and lower subsidy pay-outs in this quarter, said the report released on November 24.

(Source:Money Control)