MUMBAI: India posted world-beating growth of 8.2 percent in the year to March on Friday, in a last-minute boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic credentials the day before national elections conclude.
The world’s most populous country also remains its fastest growing major economy thanks to robust demand and huge government infrastructure spending.
That has kept sentiment positive about India’s overall economic trajectory despite chronic unemployment and immense welfare outlays to hundreds of millions of poverty-stricken citizens.
Strong growth in the manufacturing and mining sectors contributed to India’s annual growth numbers, which beat both government and analyst projections.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the result showed India’s economy was “resilient and buoyant despite global challenges”.
India’s economy also recorded 7.8 percent growth for the March quarter, higher than the government’s projection of 5.9 percent.
ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar told AFP that the result “exceeded both our and market expectations”.
The figures from India’s statistics ministry were published a day before the country concludes voting in general elections staged over six weeks.
Analysts widely expect Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to win a third term once results are counted on Tuesday. The 73-year-old premier has pledged to make India the world’s third-biggest economy after the United States and China by the end of the decade.
Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed if re-elected to maintain its focus on infrastructure spending and keep in place popular subsidies including free rations for needy families and cash handouts for farmers.
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