New Delhi: The Indian economy grew by 6.2 percent in the October-December 2024 (Q3) quarter of 2024-25, the government announced Friday, adding that it was marginally revising upwards growth estimates for the full year to 6.5 percent from its January prediction of 6.4 percent. In Q3, growth in the agriculture sector outstripped that of manufacturing.
The growth in Q3 follows 6.5 percent growth in Q1 and 5.6 percent in Q2, and 9.5 percent in Q3 of last year. Notably, for GDP growth to come in at 6.5 percent in 2024-25—as the government is predicting—growth in the final quarter would have to be at 7.7 percent, far higher than the economy has recently seen.
The Q3 growth also comes in at the lower end of even public sector economists’ predictions for the quarter. For example, the State Bank of India’s economics wing predicted a growth of 6.2-6.3 percent in Q3, while the Bank of Baroda predicted 6.6 percent growth. The private sector ICRA estimated GDP would have grown 6.4 percent in Q3.
The agriculture sector continued its robust trajectory, with growth touching 5.6 percent in Q3, comfortably higher than 4.1 percent in Q2 and 1.5 percent in Q3 of last year.
In fact, the agriculture sector’s growth has outpaced the manufacturing sector, which saw growth come in at 3.5 percent in Q3 of this financial year. This performance of the manufacturing sector was, however, quicker than the 2.1 percent in Q2 but significantly lower than 14 percent in Q3 of last year.
This high base of last year is a possible reason behind the manufacturing sector’s relatively poor performance this year.
The tertiary sector, which comprises the services sectors, grew by a robust 7.4 percent in Q3, up from 7.2 percent in Q2 and 8.3 percent in Q3 of last year.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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