Gross Domestic Product

The slump in foreign direct investments will further constrain the growth prospects.

The reason for the increase in the current account deficit during first quarter of fiscal year 2022–23 is analysed. One reason for the widening of CAD has to do with India’s growing dependence on fossil fuels. There is also an element of lack of price competitiveness that is hurting exports. India is exporting low-valued technology-intensive goods whereas importing high-valued technology-advanced goods. The Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India are taking adequate measures to control the widening trade deficit. While some of these measures are yielding results in reducing CAD, external factors such as geopolitical tensions and the United States Federal Reserve System’s move of quantitative tightening are making CAD difficult to control.

Recurring waves of the pandemic are the biggest threat to the recovery of economic growth. 

The Reserve Bank of India’s loan repayment moratorium, announced at the end of March 2020 and extended to 31 August 2020, was conceptualised and implemented as a COVID-19 crisis-response measure. While the moratorium ended, the crisis has not. Findings from a survey of 1,452 rural microfinance clients in Maharashtra, conducted in July–August 2020, show that a critical majority of borrowers continue to experience significant income deficits, and will not be in a position to service their debts for the foreseeable future.

The 2020 Union Budget has failed to provide any fiscal stimulus based upon the assumption that there is no fiscal space for providing growth stimulus. In doing so, it missed out on the opportunity of leveraging an additional fiscal space of around 10% of the gross domestic product that could have been tapped through revenue and expenditure rationalisation measures.