New Delhi, Aug 19 (Bureau) India’s growth outlook for 2022-23 is still comfortably high and confirms the recovery of animal spirits and economic growth from the pandemic-induced contraction in 2021-22, Monthly Economic Report (MER) released by the Finance Ministry said on Friday. Conservative estimates of medium-term potential growth for India may be missing a trick as they overweight the decline and subsequent stagnation in capital formation in the country in the second decade of the millennium, the report said. Private sector and banking sector balance sheets are healthy and there is appetite to borrow and to lend respectively.
Therefore, barring further adverse shocks to commodity prices, India’s terms of trade and economic growth will consolidate and retain its momentum into 2023-24, it added. The manufacturing sector is expected to gain from easing of input prices and a rise in consumer demand during the festive season, the report said. The robust production of capital goods along with the government’s capex push and large expansion in bank credit will uphold the investment activity, it said. Kharif sowing supported by southwest monsoon coupled with higher MSP for Kharif crops is likely to enhance rural demand, report noted. Urban consumption is expected to benefit from the demand for contact-intensive services, improving performance of corporates and growing optimism of consumers, the monthly report observed. ”As and when the Indian private sector embarks on the long-awaited capital expenditure cycle, building on the government’s capital expenditure of recent years, India’s potential and estimated economic growth performance in the rest of the decade will inevitably be revised,” it said.