India's GDP may contract 7.7% in FY21: First advance estimates

Biggest contraction since 1952; investments may decline by 14.5%

The pandemic will pull down India’s gross domestic product by 7.7 per cent in 2020-21, the first advance estimate of GDP released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday showed.

This will be the biggest annual contraction in records going back to 1952, according to Bloomberg.

The estimate by the NSO was close to the Reserve Bank of India’s estimate of 7.5 per cent contraction. Economy trackers had estimated annual real GDP growth to be in the range of negative 6.5 to negative 9.9 per cent.

Nominal GDP will contract by 4.2 per cent, the release showed. As tax