India GDP Growth in Q2 at 4.7%; FY20 Forecast at 5.6%: India Rating

Indian economy may have slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter in July-September to 4.7 percent, Fitch group firm India Ratings and Research said as it lowered GDP growth forecast for current fiscal for the fourth time.

The Indian economy expanded 5 percent in April-June, its slowest annual pace since 2013. The 4.7 percent projection for the second quarter of the current fiscal would mark six consecutive quarters of slowing growth, a first since 2012. This comes despite a recent series of fiscal stimulus, including a reduction in corporate tax rates.

“India Ratings and Research have revised its GDP growth forecast for FY20 to 5.6 percent. This is the fourth revision and has come in after the agency had revised its FY20 GDP growth forecast only a month ago to 6.1 percent,” the rating agency said in a statement.

The revision, it said, became “Inevitable as the high-frequency data now suggests that the agency’s estimate of 2QFY20 GDP growth coming in a little higher than 5 percent is unlikely to hold."

“The new projection suggests that 2QFY20 GDP growth is likely to be 4.7 percent,” it said. Second-quarter GDP numbers are likely to be announced on Friday.