GDP numbers show impact of GST, demonetisation behind us, says FM Jaitley

Q2 GDP growth at 6.3% marks reversal of a five- quarter declining trend

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the rise in GDP growth rate to 6.3 per cent in the July-September period of 2017-18 signals a reversal of downtrend witnessed over the preceding five quarters.

The minister further said the impact of two significant reforms -- demonetisation and rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- is "behind us", and the country can now look forward to upward growth trajectory in the coming quarters.

"The deceleration in overall growth witnessed since the first quarter of the last fiscal has been reversed," he told reporters after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the GDP data.

Jaitley said the economy now seems to have weathered the transitional challenges experienced earlier in the year and "appears poised for a durable recovery going forward".

Reversing five quarters of slowing GDP growth, the Indian economy expanded by 6.3 per cent in July-September on the back of a pick-up in manufacturing.

The gross domestic product (GDP) growth had hit a three- year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017-18. It was 7.5 per cent in the September quarter of 2016-17.