Real or nominal? Making sense of FM's 'near zero' GDP growth comment

A zero nominal growth rate of GDP would mean the real rate of growth of GDP would be in negative territory.

India could log a GDP growth rate of “near zero” in the current financial year, said Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. She didn’t say whether her estimate is about the nominal rate of GDP growth or that of real rate of growth. The finance ministry has yet not released its estimate of the GDP growth rate for 2020-21. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released its real GDP estimate for 2020-21, stating it will decline by 9.5 per cent. 

The economy contracted in the April-June quarter, but demand picked up subsequently in the festival season, said Sitharaman at the