AMN / NEW DELHI
The Indian economy is estimated to grow at 5 per cent in 2019-20 as against 6.8 per cent in the previous fiscal.
According to the first advanced estimates of the national income released by National Statistical Office (NSO) today, the decline has been mainly on account of deceleration in manufacturing sector growth, which is expected to come down to 2 per cent in 2019-20 from 6.2 per cent in the year-ago fiscal.
The deceleration was also witnessed in sectors like agriculture, construction and electricity, gas and water supply.
Whereas, some sector, including mining, public administration, and defence, showed minor improvement.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week unveiled a plan to invest Rs 102 lakh crore in infrastructure over the next five years in a bid to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
Annual economic growth slowed to 4.5 per cent in the July-September quarter, the weakest pace since 2013, blamed on weakening demand and private investment, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up reforms as five rate cuts have failed to help. The financial year ends in March.
Gross domestic product is estimated to grow 5.0 per cent in 2019/20, slower than the 6.8 per cent growth of 2018/19, the Ministry of Statistics said in a statement.