India quarterly growth worst in two decades as lockdown bites

India’s economy grew at its slowest pace in at least two decades last quarter, government data showed Friday, with warnings of far worse to come as it grapples with the fallout of the world’s largest coronavirus lockdown.

Asia’s third-largest economy expanded by just 3.1 per cent in the January-March period, which coincided with the first week of a months-long shutdown.

The figures beat even gloomier forecasts, with Bloomberg News predicting growth would slow to just 1.6 per cent, but analysts are bracing for a severe contraction in the current quarter after manufacturing, services and consumer spending came to a grinding halt.

Annual growth was 4.2 per cent, its slowest pace since the 2008 global financial crisis, though the finance ministry said the estimates were likely to be revised due to a lack of available data.

The shutdown is widely expected to plunge the country into recession, with Goldman Sachs predicting a 45 per cent contraction in the April-June quarter from the previous year.

The central bank has also warned of a downturn and slashed rates to spur lending.

Even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a shutdown in late March, the economy was struggling to gain traction with sluggish growth, record unemployment and a flurry of bad loans making banks reluctant to lend.

Earlier this month Modi announced a $266 billion package − 10 per cent of the country’s GDP − to revive the battered economy.

But with millions of migrant workers having fled home to their villages due to a lack of food and money, and factories struggling with labour shortages, few expect economic activity to pick up soon.

The key services sector − which contributes 54 per cent of GDP − suffered a severe blow last month, with the purchasing managers index of activity experiencing its sharpest contraction since record-keeping began in 2005.

Top IT firms including TCS, Infosys and Wipro also reported weak earnings in the quarter as the pandemic dragged on demand from Western markets.

Analysts warned India to brace for an even bigger hit in the coming months as the extent of the pandemic’s toll on the economy becomes clear.

“The June-ended quarter will be terrible and we can expect at least a 30-40 per cent contraction,” said Ashutosh Datar, an independent economist based in Mumbai.

In more bad news for Modi’s government, 122 million Indians lost their jobs last month, according to data from the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy think-tank, with small traders and daily wage earners accounting for the bulk of losses.

“Frankly, India should be growing at seven or eight per cent to create jobs for everyone, so we are headed (for) a bigger jobs crisis,” Datar told AFP.

India’s coronavirus death toll passed neighbouring China’s on Friday, with 175 new fatalities in 24 hours taking the total to 4,706, according to official data.

Separately, the Indian stock market settled on a positive note for the third consecutive day with the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closing over the 9,500 mark.

Initially a choppy trade was witnessed on Friday with both Sensex and Nifty opening on a negative note.

However, healthy buying in FMCG, oil & gas, metal and capital goods stocks supported the indices, analysts said.

Agencies