Economy to grow 9.2%, recoup Covid year losses

India's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow 9.2 per cent in the current financial year or 2021-22, according to the first advance estimates released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday. In 2020-21, a national lockdown forced by the Covid-19 onslaught had left the economy battered with GDP contracting 7.3 per cent.

The NSO estimate for the current financial year is a tad lower than the RBI's GDP projection in its December 2021 policy review. The central bank had projected the economy to grow 9.5 per cent, with the rider that this assumed no resurgence of Covid-19 infections in India.

The RBI has projected the third quarter (Oct-Dec 2021) and fourth quarter (Jan-Mar 2022) to grow 6.6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. Real GDP had grown 8.4 per cent in July-September 2021, after a sharp 20.1 per cent jump in April-June 2021.