Second-quarter GDP growth at 7.6% beats expectations

India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) continued in strong expansionary mode, growing 7.6% in the second quarter of this fiscal (July-September 2023), vs 7.8% in the previous quarter. The print was considerably stronger on-year (6.2% in the same period last fiscal). With this, growth has trended above the pre-pandemic five-year average quarterly growth of 6.7%.

Highlights

• GDP grew 7.6% on-year in the second quarter compared with 7.8% in the previous quarter
  
• Gross value added (GVA) grew 7.4% compared with 7.8% the previous quarter. Growth was the strongest for industry (13.2%), followed by services (5.8%) and agriculture and allied (1.2%)
• Within industry, growth improved across segments, with strongest growth in manufacturing (13.9%) and construction (13.3%)
• Within services, growth was highest for public administration, defence and other services (7.6%), followed by financial, real estate and professional services (6.0%), and trade, hotels, transport and communication (THTC; 4.3%)
• Within domestic demand, growth was strongest for government consumption expenditure (12.4%), followed by fixed investment (11.0%). Exports took a positive turn (4.3%). However, private consumption saw the slowest growth (3.1%)
• Nominal GDP grew 9.1% compared with 8% the previous quarter