RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, in the Monetary Policy Committee meeting announcements on Thursday projected GDP growth for 2023-24 at 6.5 per cent. The projection remains the same as the previous MPC statement that pegged growth for the year at 6.5 per cent.
However, the Governor announced slight tweaks in the quarterly growths, with Q1 at 8 per cent, Q2 at 6.5 per cent, Q3 at 6 per cent and Q4 at 5.7 per cent. In the previous policy announcements in April, Governor Das had pegged Q1 growth at 7.8 per cent, Q2 at 6.4 per cent, Q3 at 6.1 per cent, and Q4 at 5.9 per cent.
The GDP growth projections were kept unchanged even as the World Bank trimmed India’s growth forecast to 6.3 per cent from the previous estimates of 6.6 per cent for FY24, while raising its 2023 global forecast.
“Robust capital expenditure is expected to nurture investments and manufacturing activity. Consumer and business outlook surveys display continued optimism. The headwinds from weak external demand, volatility in global financial markets, protracted geopolitical tensions, and intensity of El Nino impact, however, pose downside risks to the outlook so far as growth is concerned,” the Governor said.
The real GDP recorded a growth of 7.2 per cent in 2022-23, stronger than the earlier estimates of 7 per cent, the Governor said, quoting the recently-released GDP data.
Meanwhile, the RBI MPC decided to keep the repo rate unchanged for the second consecutive time at 6.5 per cent. In the previous policy announcements too, the repo rate was kept unchanged. Additionally, it marginally lowered its inflation forecast for FY24 from 5.2 per cent to 5.1 per cent, with inflation for Q1 at 4.6 per cent, 5.2 per cent for Q2, 5.4 per cent for Q3, and 5.2 per cent for Q4.
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