India’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at the slowest pace in 11 years for Q4 and FY20 as the Covid-19 took hold in March. On March 25, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown. However, business activity a few weeks before that had begun grinding to a halt.
As all eight infrastructure sectors hit by the lockdown, the core sector contracted by a record 38 percent in April. Cement output fell 86 percent while fertilisers and crude oil shrank 4.5 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, in April.
From 8.2 percent in March, the decline worsened sharply in electricity generation in April to 22.8 percent. GDP expanded 3.1 percent in the quarter, the slowest since a 0.2 percent rise in Q4 of FY09. FY20 growth is estimated at 4.2 percent, well below the 5 percent estimated at the end of February.
Growth estimates for the previous three quarters were all revised down — to 4.1 percent from 4.7 percent in the December quarter, 4.4 percent from 5.1 percent in the July-September period and to 5.2 percent from 5.6 percent in the June quarter, implying a deeper slowdown even before Covid-19 hit.
