India pre-budget survey 
forecasts 11% growth

Officials said there would be a ‘V-shaped’ recovery after the biggest economic decline in more than four decades.

ndia on Friday forecast its pandemic-stricken economy would grow by 11 percent in the 2021-22 financial year after a 7.7 per cent contraction this year.

The prediction in the government’s annual economic survey backs an International Monetary Fund forecast that India will grow 11.5 per cent in the next financial year.

Officials said there would be a ‘V-shaped’ recovery after the biggest economic decline in more than four decades.

The forecast was released ahead of the announcement of the government budget on Monday.

“After experiencing a sharp contraction of 23.09 per cent in the first quarter of 2020-21, India is expected to be the fastest growing economy in the next two years,” said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the government’s chief economic adviser.

The country of 1.3 billion people has been the world’s second worst hit country in the coronavirus pandemic, with 10.5 million infections.

But reported new cases have fallen dramatically in recent weeks and authorities hope the economy will be boosted by a major vaccination drive that started this month.

• India