India's Q1 GDP growth is 5.7%, govt likely to draw oppositions' flak

In February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the drop in economic activity due to demonetisation was only transient.

Amid the after effects of the demonetisation and GST, the government data on Thursday stated that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.7 per cent during the first quarter (April-June) of financial year 2017-18.

The government is likely to draw opposition's flak over the Q1 GDP data as the GDP growth rate for the same quarter last year was 7.9 per cent.

Reports say that manufacturing was impacted by uncertainty surrounding GST.

Experts have said that the effect of demonetisation is holding back the economic growth even as some sectors have shown the signs of recovery.

With the GDP growth slowing every quarter since March 2016, former finance minister P Chidambaram had in June lashed out at the BJP-led government and held demonetisation responsible for it.

In February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the drop in economic activity due to demonetisation was only transient and its effect would not spill over to the next financial year.

The IMF had earlier this year said demonetisation would have only short term impact on the economy and it would bounce back to its expected growth of more than eight per cent in the next few years.

OneIndia News