With the Central Statistics office releasing the first advance estimates indicating that the economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent, the figure stands lowest in 4 years.

Earlier, the GDP growth was 7.1 per cent last fiscal. Before this, the slowest expansion in GDP was in 2013-14, when it grew by 6.4 per cent.

Answering the question as to if the newly introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country is responsible for the slow growth, TCA Anant, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said that GST can be considered as one of the factor to some extent.

Dissecting the data further it is essential to note that the manufacturing stood at low 4.6 as compared to the previous figure of 7.9 per cent.

Also agriculture sector showed a low 2.1 per cent figure whereas it stood at 4.9 in the previous fiscal.

However the statistics office expressed optimism and informed that the economy is likely to pick up with things getting back to track.

Responding to the question that despite a good monsoon, the agriculture sector couldn’t perform well, Anant informed that in the past there have been times when even without a good monsoon agriculture did fairly well, therefore monsoon alone isn’t the only variant.

Also Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary Economic Affairs said that the GDP growth of 6.5 per cent could be seen as a positive sign hinting a growth of 7 per cent in the second half. (KNN/DA)