India Lowers GDP Growth Forecast for 2019-20 to 5% from 7% Estimated Earlier

New Delhi (Sputnik): India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth witnessed a 26-month low of 4.5 percent in the second quarter (July-September) of financial year 2019-20. It stood at five percent in the previous three months (April-June). It’s a steep decline compared with the 7 percent growth recorded in the same period in 2018.

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will remain muted in financial year 2019-20, as per government data. The Indian government has lowered the growth forecast for the current financial year to 5 percent from earlier estimates of 7 percent.

According to the estimates released by the Indian government on Tuesday, the GDP growth for 2019-20 is lower compared with 6.8 percent in 2018-19.

The estimates paint a gloomy picture of manufacturing and construction, the two key sectors of the Indian economy.

Manufacturing is estimated to grow 2 percent in 2019-20 against 6.9% in 2018-19.  Construction in 2019-20 is expected to see 3.2 percent growth as compared with 8.7 percent in 2018-19.

Experts blame lackluster manufacturing for the low estimates. “Slowdown in India's manufacturing sector in first half of financial year 2019-20 has resulted in reducing growth,” said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research-Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.