GDP figures indicate substantial improvement in economy: Arvind Subramanian

Chief Economic Advisor Dr Arvind Subramanian on Friday said that the GDP figures indicate that there has been a substantial improvement in the Indian economy, adding that the a poor monsoon, which adversely affected the agriculture sector, pegged back an even higher growth rate.

"Broadly, this is very encouraging news because directionally there is a substantial improvement. The basic price growth has increased by 0.6 percent despite agriculture having declined. Had this been a normal agricultural year, I feel that growth may have been even higher," Subramanian told the media.

"Manufacturing has not only picked up from last year, it has also picked up from the third quarter of this year. The two sectors that are somewhat within the control of the government - services and manufacturing - have done well. The services sector has grown from 9.1 percent to 10.2 percent," he added.

Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, releasing the figures, said that the growth in manufacturing is an indicator of increasing jobs in that sector.

"The GDP figures for the year ending on March 2015 are in, and the growth is 7.2 percent at basic prices and 7.3 percent at market prices. This is despite a decline in agricultural growth from 3.7 percent to 0.2 percent. The encouraging part of the data is the growth in manufacturing to 7.1 percent from last year's 5.3 percent which means we are creating jobs in our growth path," he said.

Meanwhile, Subramanian warned that the Indian economy is still a recovering economy.

"From the point of view of broader policy making, this is still a recovering economy. This is not an economy that is at potential," he said.