Amid coronavirus outbreak India’s GDP growth slows to 3.1% in Jan-March quarter of FY20

On Friday it was announced that India's GDP growth in January-March 2020 had slowed to 3.1%.

According to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, the GDP growth during 2019-20 is estimated to be at 4.2% as compared to 6.1% in the previous financial year.

"GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q4 of 2019-20 is estimated at Rs. 38.04 lakh crore, as against Rs 36.90 lakh crore in Q4 of 2018-19, showing a growth of 3.1 percent," the Ministry said.

The country's fiscal deficit widened to 4.6% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2019-20 mainly on account of poor revenue realisation, according to official data. The deficit, which signifies the gap between government revenue and expenditure, is higher than the revised estimate of 3.8% for the fiscal.

According to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, the fiscal deficit for 2019-20 worked out to be 4.59% of the GDP, while the revenue deficit was 3.27%. The effective revenue deficit was 2.36%, the data showed.

In the last fiscal, the Indian economy faced a severe demand slowdown on account of high GST rates, farm distress, stagnant wages and liquidity constraints. This time around, the novel coronavirus outbreak has played spoilsport. With the number of cases continuing to rise, the nation has been under a state of lockdown for over two months now. This in turn has dealt a severe blow to the economy.