A favorable Crisil report predicting a higher farm-output in the light of good monsoon in the current fiscal has caused jubilation in the govt circles and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has taken to social media disseminating the good news.
Singh tweeted “Indian GDP to Grow 7.9% This Fiscal, Agriculture at 4%: Crisil”
The report released Tuesday says the agriculture income growth would be at an above-trend 4 per cent. And with this India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow this fiscal at 7.9 per cent, while annual retail inflation would remain contained at 5 per cent, it adds.
“As for the road ahead, copious reservoirs augur well for the rabi season that starts this month,” it added.
Noting that the distribution of monsoon this season has been the best in the last three years, with only a third of the districts seeing deficiency compared with almost half in fiscal 2015 and 46 per cent in 2014, Crisil said it expects nominal agricultural GDP to rise by Rs 1.49 trillion this fiscal, compared with Rs 978 billion in fiscal 2016.
“So this time around, India’s consumption story will have two legs instead of just the urban engine on which it has duked out the past two years,” the report said.
“Crisil’s state-wise Deficient Rainfall Impact Parameter, or DRIP, scores show all states barring Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Odisha are above-trend,” it added.
The agency expects good agricultural output help ease pressure on food prices. “On the inflation front, we expect ample kharif production to boost supply and bring down food inflation, especially for pulses where inflation has remained in double digits for 14 months on the trot now,” it said.