GDP shocker: India Inc expects growth to rebound in Q3 on stimulus measures

Indian industry on Friday said it expects the economic slowdown to bottom out soon and the growth would rebound in the next quarter on the back of a string of steps taken by the government.

India's growth falling to a more than six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2019-20 is sub-optimal and below the potential of the economy, the industry pointed out.

''We expect the slowdown to be bottoming out'', said Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood.

"My hope stems from the fact the private final consumption at about 5 per cent growth does indicate resilience in consumer demand. But we need to be shoring up the consumer sentiment, for sure," Sood explained.

Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw opined that few pragmatic policies can help put India on the top again.

"We can quickly rise to the top again with a few pragmatic policies," Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted.

FICCI President Sandip Somany stated that the growth dipping to 4.5 per cent in July-September is a concern but the decline was on the expected line as lead indicators of the economy were showing signs of weakness.

"Private consumption and investment demand continue to remain weak although some improvement was noticed during the recent festive season, he said.

"The government has taken a series of measures in recent months to infuse greater energy into the economy and we are hopeful that in the second half of the current fiscal things would improve," he added.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President D K Aggarwal also said that the string of reforms undertaken during the last few months will refuel the growth trajectory of the country.

"We are very much hopeful that growth will rebound in the next quarter," he said.

Somany suggested that it was important is to address the problems in the rural sector where more income enhancing measures are required as this would propel demand.

India's GDP growth hit an over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in July-September 2019. The deceleration in manufacturing output and subdued farm sector activity dragged the country's economic growth, according to official data released on Friday.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was recorded at 7 per cent in the corresponding quarter of FY 2018-19. In the previous quarter of the ongoing fiscal, the economic growth was 5 per cent.