Q4 GDP slowdown temporary, will pick up growth: Finance Secretary

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg Friday said the slow down in India's GDP in the fourth quarter of the fiscal ended March 2019 was due to temporary factors, and it will pick up going forward. "Slow down in the fourth quarter (of 2018-19) GDP was due to temporary factors like stress in the NBFC sector affecting consumption finance. The first quarter of current fiscal (2019-20) would also witness relatively slow growth and from the second quarter onward it will pick up," Garg told reporters here.

Garg, who also holds the charge as Finance Secretary, said that capital investment, including private investment, is expected to pick up. Data from Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that India's economic growth rate slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent during the January-March quarter of 2018-19.

The growth rate of the economy has weakened mainly due to poor performance in the farm sector as well as in the manufacturing sector.