India to comfortably grow at 6.5% in FY'24: Chief Economic Advisor Nageswaran

New Delhi, Nov 30 (PTI) Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday said the economic growth momentum will continue in the December quarter and the Indian economy will comfortably grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal.

Nageswaran said India is “underestimating” its GDP growth in forecasting a 6.5 per cent expansion for the full fiscal as is evident from the nominal GDP growth rate vis a vis the tax buoyancy that the country is witnessing.

The tax revenue growth so far in the current fiscal is 16.3 per cent, while the nominal GDP growth is 8.6 per cent. The tax buoyancy is at 1.9 so far this fiscal.

“We will keep the GDP growth estimate at 6.5 per cent but we are more comfortable (with the projection) than before. We need to work out the impact of second-quarter numbers on full fiscal. The momentum of economic growth will continue in the third quarter as well,” Nageswaran told reporters here.

The Indian economy grew at 7.6 per cent in the September quarter and at 7.8 per cent in the June quarter.

“Real GDP growth clocked 7.6 per cent in Q2 FY 2023. The real GDP growth has surprised on the upside by not only being higher than the median projections of 6.8 per cent by professional forecasters but also their highest estimate of 7.4 per cent,” the finance ministry said in a post on X.

The RBI has projected the Indian economy to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal. PTI