8 Key Takeaways from India’s latest GDP data | UPSC

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the First Advance Estimates (FAE) for the current financial year.

WHAT ARE THE FIRST ADVANCE ESTIMATES OF GDP?

• For any financial year, the MoSPI provides regular estimates of GDP.
• The first such instance is through the FAE.
• The FAE for any particular financial year is typically presented on January 7th.

• The FAE will be quickly updated as more information becomes available.
• On February 26th, MoSPI will come out with the Second Advance Estimates of GDP for the current year.
• The first advance estimates of GDP, obtained by extrapolation of seven months’ data, are released early to help officers in the Finance Ministry and other departments in framing the broad contours of Union Budget 2021-22.

SECTOR-WISE ESTIMATES?

• The FAE are derived by extrapolating the available data.

The sector-wise estimates are obtained by extrapolating indicators such as:

• Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of first 7 months of the financial year
• Financial performance of listed companies in the private corporate sector available up to quarter ending September, 2020
• The 1st Advance Estimates of crop production
• The accounts of central & state governments
• Information on indicators like deposits & credits, passenger and freight earnings of Railways, passengers and cargo handled by civil aviation etc., available for first 8 months of the financial year.

7 KEY TAKEAWAYS

GDP GROWTH RATE

• In the context of recent history, the 7.7 per cent contraction in GDP is a sharp one considering that India has registered an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.8 per cent since the start of economic liberalisation in 1992-93.

• As a result, the domestic economy had entered a technical recession
• For the full year of 2020-21 then, India’s GDP is likely to be Rs 134.4 lakh crore as against Rs 145.7 lakh crore in 2019-20.

ABSOLUTE LEVEL OF REAL GDP

• At Rs 134.4 lakh crore, India’s real GDP — that is, GDP without the influence of inflation — in 2020-21 will be lower than the 2018-19 level .

In other words, from the start of the next financial year, India would first have to raise its GDP back to the level it was at in 2019-20 (Rs 143.7 lakh crore).

PER CAPITA GDP

• While the GDP provides an all-India aggregate, per capita GDP is a better variable if one wants to understand how an average India has been impacted.
• India’s per capita GDP will fall to Rs 99, 155 in 2020-21 — last seen four years ago during 2016-17.

ABSOLUTE LEVEL OF REAL GROSS VALUE ADDED (OR GVA)

• The Gross Value Added provides a picture of the economy from the supply side.
• It maps the value-added by different sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry and services.
• In other words, GVA provides a proxy for the income earned by people involved in the various sectors.

ABSOLUTE LEVEL OF PRIVATE FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE (PFCE)

• India’s overall GDP can be divided into four main sections.
• The biggest demand for goods and services comes from private individuals trying to satisfy their consumption needs.
• Typically this would include all the things — be it a toothpaste or a car — that you and your family members buy in their private individual capacity
• This demand is called PFCE and it constitutes over 56 per cent of the total GDP.

PER CAPITA PFCE

• Just like per capita GDP, the per capita PFCE is also a relevant metric as it shows how much does an average Indian spend in his/her private capacity.
• Typically, with rising incomes standards, such consumption levels also rise

ABSOLUTE LEVEL OF GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION (GFCF)

• So if your firm buys computers and software to increase the overall productivity then it will be counted under GFCF.

• Taken together, private demand and business demand account for almost 85 per cent of all GDP.

RISING RETAIL INFLATION

• Retail inflation spiked to 6.93 per cent in July this year on account of higher food prices, the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).