GDP data: Yet another huge knock for Modi govt's economic growth story

India's economic growth falls for a third successive year, fiscal deficit widens to 4.6%; agriculture and govt spending prevent further decline

The Narendra Modi government’s economic growth story has suffered yet another huge knock. Along with that has come the official admission that the government’s fiscal deficit last year was as large as 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), much wider than the 3.8 per cent provided in the Budget presented in February earlier this year.
 
On the economy front, the provisional estimates released on Friday showed that the rate of growth in India’s GDP fell steeply to 4.2 per cent in 2019-20 from 6.1 per cent in 2018-19.
 
Look at it another way, the rate of