Former Finance Secy Garg calls for 'serious introspection' on Q1 GDP growth

New Delhi, Sep 1 With India's GDP growing at 13.5 per cent in the June quarter of the current financial year, less than the 20.1 per cent growth recorded in the corresponding period of last year and also lower than Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) prediction of 16.2 per cent, former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has called for a "serious introspection" on what he hinted was slow growth.

"India's GDP in Q1 2019-20 was Rs 33.05 trillion. Q1 2022-2 3 GDP has come at Rs 34.42 trillion. Q1 GDP has grown by Rs 1.09 trillion in three years. Three years growth is 3.3 per cent. Time to celebrate 13.5 per cent year on year growth or to do a serious introspection on why (we) are standing still?" Garg tweeted, just minutes after the GDP was released on Wednesday.

The GDP growth of 13.5 per cent in the June quarter of 2022-23 was the first double digit growth in a year's time after it had recorded 20.1 per cent growth in June quarter of 2021-22.

However, it was less than State Bank of India's projection of 15.7 per cent growth rate for April-June quarter of current fiscal, apart from falling short of RBI's projection of 16.2 per cent for the period under review.

"First-quarter GDP growth came in lower than expected. High net imports and weaker government consumption expenditure kept overall growth soft," Crisil Ltd's Chief Economist, Dharmakirti Joshi had said on Wednesday while reacting to the GDP numbers.