INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MUMBAI/BENGALURU: India's annual economic growth surged to a more than two-year high of 8.2 percent in the three months ended June,
powered by a strong performance of manufacturing and consumer spending, Reuters reported.
The latest period's annual pace beat a Reuters
poll forecast of 7.6 per cent, and was the highest since India logged 9.3 percent growth in the January-March quarter of 2016.
In the same
quarter last year, India's growth languished at 5.6 percent - far too slow to generate jobs for the mass of young people joining the
SecuritiesGDP expansion of 8.2% in the first quarter of FY19, was better than expectations and is above the growth rate trend in the last
eight quarters reflecting a turnaround in the economy and its intrinsic resilience
The better than expected growth in manufacturing and other key sectors is likely to lead to an upward revision in GDP growth rates for the
full yearB Prasanna, Group Executive and Head - Global Markets Group, ICICI BankStrong acceleration in value addition was led by the farm
sector and double-digit growth in the manufacturing sector
The performance of industry and agriculture have encouragingly improved
It probably indicates some employment generation in labour-intensive sectors
The strong construction growth is also likely to aid recovery
Private consumption has shown welcome traction in the last quarter, although sustainability will have to be monitored
The continued improvement in investment is probably reflecting better business and policy climate and a sustained pickup in this component
will ensure that overall growth will find a firm footing
However, we are disappointed with the muted growth seen in services components.
Sujan Hajra, Chief Economist, Anand Rathi Financial
ServicesThe GDP growth number has been ahead of expectation
It reflects strong recovery in industry and agriculture on the one hand and private consumption on the other
With this quarterly growth number, India seems to be poised to post 7.5%+ growth for FY19
GDP numbers are in line with high frequency data including those on growth in industry, infrastructure and auto sales
Stronger growth, softer inflation and in-line fiscal numbers show strong fundamentals of the country
Slight deceleration in investment and relatively range bound services sector growth, although expect, are slight dampeners
We expect India to remain the fastest growing major economy of the world in this year too
The strong GDP numbers bode well for both equity (especially consumption theme) market and debt market.
A Prasanna, Chief Economist, ICICI
Securities Primary Dealership"The Q1 GDP data was slightly better than our expectations helped by stronger growth in agriculture and
The data highlights the recovery in the economy since Q4 FY18, when non-farm sectors shrugged off the twin shocks of demonetisation and GST
rollout.
"We see the momentum to continue in the current quarter, but year-on-year growth to slow in H2 (October-March) as base effects fade
Headwinds such as high oil prices, rising interest rates and speed bumps in global growth should play a role in slowing down the momentum
Broadly, we expect H2 gross value added (GVA) growth to slow down to 7 percent, and full-year GVA growth to print 7.4 percent and GDP to be
at 7.5 percent.
"On the face of it, this data should be positive for the rupee as it signals an economy in the middle of a recovery
However, the build-up of external imbalances and tighter external funding conditions imply that the economy is growing at an unsustainable
pace, and thus, the anticipated slowdown in H2 will be welcome."
Shubhada Rao, Chief Economist, YES Bank"The GDP data was close to our
We expect some tempering of growth going ahead due to base effect as well as from global headwinds including crude oil prices.
"However, we
are still not prompted to lower our GDP forecast for FY 2018/19, which we expect at 7.3 percent
Rupee will be on a hot monitoring list for us
We expect the rupee to fall to 72 if we consider the real effective exchange rate, but following that we expect some stability in the rupee
in early part of September.
"Given that we don't see a runway concern on inflation even after accounting for the rupee depreciation, we
don't expect the Reserve Bank of India to raise rates now
We expect the last two rate hikes to play out on growth and inflation in the next two quarters and inflation to have only a moderate
upside."
Shashank Mendiratta, India Economist, ANZ bank"The numbers are pretty solid and mostly driven by public investment and higher
consumption, especially, in the rural-end with this being a pre-election year.
"This is probably the best GDP trend we have seen in the
first half helped by a favourable base
Going ahead, I expect the growth rate to be moderate as private investment is unlikely to grow at a faster rate due to stressed assets
Private consumption grew at its fastest rate since demonetisation.
"The rupee weakening would mean more to inflation numbers than growth
We expect the Reserve Bank of India to hike rates in the March-quarter next year with no changes this year."
